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\* 







THE BOOK of NEW YORK 

Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis 

BY 

JULIUS CHAMBERS, F. R. G. S. 

Reporter, Special Correspondent, City Editor and Managing Editor of the New York Herald 
and Managing Editor of the New York World 

Author of "A Mad World ami Its Inhabitants," "On a Margin," 

"The Haseal Club," "Missing, A Tale of the Sargasso Sea," 
"The Destiny of Doris," "The Mississippi River," etc. 



THE BOOK OF NEW YORK COMPANY 

:i 1 1 - 8 3 9 T R I B U N E BUILDING, N E \V Y O R K C I T Y 
JULIUS CHAMBERS, Editor M. M. MARCY, Manager 




■.A:!: •:••:/ ppft ,C"i I ■■■■■■■\-'^' 




JULIUS CHAMBERS 

S « \ ORK ( 



Contents 



CHAPTER I 



First Impressions of the American Metropolis. 



Revolt Among the Citizens 



CHAPTER II. 



23 



Busiesi Yeah of My Life. 



CHAPTER III 



35 



A Change op Base 



CHAPTER IV 



42 



Alert, at Home and Abroad 



CHAPTER V. 



47 



Across the Atlantic in Quest of News 



CHAPTER VI. 



Nine Presidents I Have Known. 



CHAPTER VII 



58 



City Editor and Foreign Editor. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



75 



An Era of Wonderful Development 



CH.vPTER IX. 



»- 



Among the Forgotten 



CHAPTER X. 



89 



A Crusade to the Quaker City. 



CHAPTER XI. 



••- 



Speakers of the House I Have Known 



CHAPTER XII. 



107 



Sudden Change of Fortune 



CHAPTER XIII 



113 



CHAPTER XIV 

Editing New. -papers in Paris and New Yoke .117 

CHAPTER XV. 
A .New World '23 



CHAPTER XVI 



Some Captains of Industry 



130 



CONTENTS— Continue-. 1 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Comedy of Journalism 1">7 



CHAPTER XVIII 



First American Daily Newspaper in Colors 



161 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The First Bryan Campaign "'' 



Two Palaces for Books and Aici 



CIIAPTEK XX 



173 



Echoes of Three W.a 



CHAPTER XXI. 



209 



Evolution of the Legal Proi 



CHAPTER XXII. 



213 



Cristmas in d the French Ball. 



CHAPTER Will 



321 



M M1VHI.S OF SURGERY AND Mf.DICINE, 



CHAPTER XXIV 



326 



Development on the Railroad Hi sines 



CHAPTER XXV 



331 



hi vi i.oi-MENi "i i hi: New York Pi \yhousi 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



341 



Bohemi vn Nights 



CHAPTER XXVII 



3", 7 



How Good Ci ioking Came to I Is 



CHAPTER XXVIII 



365 



The <',m:\i Metropolis oi To-Dai 



CHAPTER XXIX 



372 



Selling Real Esi ate is a Fine \i 



CHAPTER, XXX. 



405 



A National Wave of Rei 
Index 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



4U 



44") 




FOREWORD 

GREAT Frenchman, Theophile Gautier, once said: "Let me 
write the preface, and I don't care who writes the book." Evi- 
dently, he meant he would exhaust any subject with which the 
volume dealt. Aside from the vanity of the boast— which he al- 
most confirms in the preface to "Mademoiselle de Maupin" 
custom sanctions an introductory page which the reader can avoid, if he prefer. 

Delay in the publication of this work has been due, somewhat, to serious 
illness, but in a much greater degree to obstacles cast in my way for obtaining 
material for sketches of friends and distinguished persons I desired to include in 
the volume. My illness was acute, and, at one time, grave. The tension under 
which I suffered was relieved not so much by medicine as by a cold-blooded des 
patch from Mr. Marcy, couched in this language: 

"For God's sake, Chambers, keep alive until the book is finished; after 
that, use your own discretion." 

That message came to me at St. Augustine, Fla. , where I was in bed under 
orders to remain there; but it galvanized me into action. It had the effect of 
bringing me back to New York on the first Clyde steamer from Jacksonville. 
Publishers, as well as corporations, are soulless: but I always have respected the 
man who drives. I was a "driver" many years, myself. 

When I set out to write my recollections of an active life in this city, the 
task appeared easy. All I had to do was to turn to my stenographer and say, 
"Begin!" But I soon discovered that a large part of my intimate knowledge of 
political and professional men, especially of my employers, was contained in 
privileged conversations and written communications. Among more than a 
thousand letters on my files, many were barred by professional ethics. Not a 
confidence has been violated. Some incidents herein set down may jar the feel- 
ings of friends or enemies, but the fault is not mine. 

In a personal narrative, the writer is unavoidably prominent: but many 
events that did not make for the progression of this one have been omitted. 
These include several brief trips to Europe, in one of which I re-visited Spain 
and glorious Grenada, roamed about the Alhambra castle as in my early 
twenties; thence, going to Morocco, I heard at Tangier the ever-consoling 
' Yerga" song, coupled with "the return" to the Alhambra that has been 



chanted nightly in its coffee-houses since the Moors were driven across the 
Strait of Hercules. A winter was spent in Egypt, a veritable temple and tomb 
bazaar, during which the canon called the Nile valley was ascended to the 
Soudan. Likewise unrecorded are countless runs to Washington, in quest of 
special information for which I happened to possess an "open sesame!" Never 
did /shake a fist at "the great, white Dome" on Capitol Hill, as did Coun- 
sellor Cromwell, because thereunder lay my treasure-house of news. 

Several friends have joined "the throng invisible" since this work was 
undertaken. As this page, the last, goes to press, the horrors of the Steamship 
Titanic disaster occupy every mind. Among the lost passengers, who willingly 
gave their lives that women might be saved, was a friend of many years, Colonel 
John Jacob Astor. Like other men on that ship, he died as do the brave. 

"Everything in good humor" has been the rule throughout this volume. 
The breath of malice does not taint a single line. Not a grievance, real or 
fancied, has been aired. 

J. C. 



New York City, April 20, 1912 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




THE BOOK of NEW YORK 

CHAPTER I 




HERE is only one New York. 
It is the dream town of the 
American boy, who, at play 
or at work in remote pails of 
the Great Republic, counts 
himself a New Yorker in his 
visions of the future. 

New York owes its transcendent commercial 
majesty to the sea! 

Deep-laden argosies from wonderlands afar 
unload their treasures at its wharves. For all 
mankind, here's welcome haven and assured 
market! A splendid harbor attracts the ships 
of the world; but ninety million money-earn- 



ing, money-spending people of the United 
Slates outside its city gates are what justify 
their cargoes. There are other ports upon our 
ocean shores, but New York is monarch of 
them all! 

This majestic volume of hade, representing 
product of hand and brain, creates ceaseless 
demand for new mental and physical vitality. 
Imperial New York issues a royal summons 
to the American youth, and he responds from 
the North, the Fast, the West and the South 
as though he heard a call lo arms. Mainte- 
nance or this proudest possession of the Repub- 
lic must not be in doubt for a single hour, 
even if every home tie be sundered. 



1(1 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



This annual tribute of the hinterland to the 
gluttonous metropolis exceeds 25,000 young 
men and an uncounted number of young wom- 
en — a contribution one thousand times greater 
than that of Athens to Crete! Innocence, 
hope, talent and. occasionally, genius come 
hither to grapple with that heartless monster, 
Competition. 

"Only the fittest survive!" is the song of 
the battle. 

The vear at which these intimate recollec- 
tions begin is a]>tlv chosen, although its selec- 
tion by the writer was accidental. He came 
straight from college, a stranger and with a 
capital of thirty dollars. He had not a letter 
of introduction or a friend. The failure of 
his father in business had necessitated the 
abandonment of an education, or working his 
own way through the third and fourth years 
of a university course. This alternative had 
been accepted and a diploma attained. 

The Evening Post Building stood at the 
corner of Nassau and Liberty streets; seeing 
its sign, the stranger climbed to the "editorial 
rooms" and sent his unknown name to ( diaries 
Nordhoff, managing-editor, with whom, in 
after years, he was closely associated in Wash- 
ington and whose chief he finally became on 
the New York Herald. That talk was very 
memorable. Mr. Nordhoff had no place for 
a new man, but he gave some advice that, for 
impracticability, rises superior to any that has 
earned the dignity of print. 

"Every time you walk up Broadway, young 
man." said he, "and every time you walk down 
Broadway, something occurs that never has 
happened before and never will recur. Now. 
if you have but the eye to see and the faculty 
to describe this unusual happening, your suc- 
cess is assured." 

This dictum was uttered in a grave and im- 
pressive manner; and. at its conclusion, the 
Post's managing-editor bowed, as he swung 
back to his desk. The youngster, barely turned 
nineteen, was much impressed and backed out 
of the holy-of-holies trembling with gratitude. 
That he did not fall over the office cat was a 
miracle. Surely, thought he, nobody but a 
niirabile, a wondersmith in words, can suc- 
ceed in journalism. 

During the four years that followed under 



severe, almost savage, city editors, he learned 
that writing is but a small part of the art of 
making a newspaper. He realized the value 
of legs over gray matter, of attrition with 
mankind over mere book knowledge. 

A similar ascent was made up three of the 
longest flights of stairs in town to the edito- 
rial rooms of the World, a newspaper I was to 
manage long years afterwards, and whose 
editor, William Henry Hurlbert, two years 
later, wrote to me an invitation to join his 
stall'. But on this occasion, City Editor 
Israels told me frankly that he did not want 
any "kid reporters." His words were not 
complimentary to the brood, and the descent 
of the long stairways landed the stranger on 
Park Row once more. Not a face in the 
passing throng was friendly or familiar. 

The old, slate-hued, brick building at Spruce 
and Nassau streets was crowned with a sign 
five feet high containing the single word, 
"TRIBUNE." As I gazed at it. I recalled 
a time of my life, long before I could read, 
when I had sat for hours at a time upon the 
floor staring at the pages of "Greeley's Tri- 
bune," never absent from my grandparents' 
home in Ohio. Suddenly a weird figure 
emerged from the throng and headed for the 
Tribune's only front door. There could not 
be another such a man on earth! Familiar 
with portraits of Greeley, "the staunch Aboli- 
tionist," I would have recognized him had I 
been only six years old, instead of nineteen. 
Hardly hail he disappeared before I was ask- 
ing myself, " Whv not apply to Mr. Greeley ? " 
I knew so little of the internal organization of 
a newspaper office that it appeared best to 
seek a reporter's job at the to]). After a long- 
wait, I was taken behind the counter and 
climbed a single flight of iron stairs to the door 
of the quaintest den imaginable. An attend- 
ant, whom I afterwards came to know as 
"Sullivan," pointed to the big, white-haired 
man, seated at a desk literally piled with all 
sorts of clippings, scraps of letters and. pre- 
sumably, "copy." Standing until spoken to. 
the situation became so embarrassing that 
when a shrill, squeaky voice asked: "Well, 
young fellow, what is it.-" I looked about 
the room for another speaker than the idol 
of my boyhood's dreams. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



11 



This was the first time the voice of Horace 
Greeley had ever reached my ears! It was so 
harsh, so broken, so unsympathetic that when 
the kindly face, round as the Moon's on her 
thirteenth night and, with its aura of silken, 
white hair, turned toward me, 1 managed to 
stammer: 

"Mr. Greeley, 1 have called to ask for a 
place on your newspaper. You are a trustee 
of Cornell University, and 1 have just Keen 
graduated— 

"I'd a damned sight rather you had been 
graduated at a printer's case," was his com- 
ment. I didn't have a chance to tell him that 
I had been foreman of a composing-room at 
fifteen, and that I had taken myself through 
college liv work al a case. The great man 




HORACE GREELEY 

is: 2 



"Fame is vapor; popularity an accident; riches take wings; the only 
earthly certainty is oblivion; no man can see what a daj may bring forth; 
while those who cheer to-day will often curse to-morrow; ami vet, I 
cherish the hope that the journal 1 projected and established will live 
and flourish long after I shall have mouldered into forgotten 'in i , being 
guided by a lamer wisdom, a more unerring sagacity to discern the right, 
though not by a more unfaltering readiness to embrace and defend it at 
whatsoever personal cost; and that the stone which covers my ashes may- 
bear to future .-yes the still int ell iu'ihle inscription, ' rounder ol The New 
York Tribune.' "—Recollections of a Busy Life, 143. 



forgol me then and there; and, although : 
subsequently met him on two occasions, 1 am 
sure lie did not identify me with the youngster 
to whom he had administered a savage rebuke 
because a boy had assumed he possessed the 
rudiments of an education. In time, I came 
to know how incomplete the best university 
education is, but 1 had hard-earned respect 
for a diploma at that time. 

Whether "Sullivan" helped me or threw me 
down the stairs, I never knew. I got back into 
the street, somehow. Wasn't it terrible to be 
young! What wouldn't I have given for a 
few gray hairs or for whiskers upon my beard- 
less cheeks. I fell old, but, blessed be youth, 
I wasn't discouraged! 

I had been working at a trade since I was 
eleven years old, had prepared for college by 
night study, hail hammered through four 
years of work and study, had secured Phi 
Beta Kappa and other so-called college "hon- 
ors." all for nothing! 

Hut a boy's thoughts are long thoughts: life 
is so very real that rebuff and discouragement 
are not associated in his mind. 

I do not remember whether 1 applied at the 
Times or not; if I did, it was a frost. 

NTo, I hadn't any letters, or experience, or 
knowledge, for that matter — only hope. 1 
didn't dare confess that 1 was a college man; 
I was not to be caught twice in that excuse for 
a rebuff. 

'Idle following afternoon, I was again in the 
neighborhood of the Tribune corner and dis- 
covered the entrance to the editorial rooms on 
Spruce street. 

"If Mi - . Greeley hasn't sent for his chief 
editor and specifically told him not to employ 
me. another trial will do no harm," thought I. 
"If he lias, and the man I meet is anywhere 
my si/.e. there'll lie some satisfaction, at least, 
in a try at getting even." 

Having climbed the stairs. I landed in a 
loom in which several young men were sealed. 
Through a door, silhouetted against the light 
on Printing House Square, stood a chunky 
man. his back toward me and the sheen upon 
his trousers resplendent. He was Bronson 
Howard, although the fact was not known to 
me any more than was that exchange-editor's 



u 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



true place in literature, which was not fixed for 
many years thereafter. I had learned enough 
to ask for the city editor, but he was at lunch- 
eon. I was about to go away, when "Sul- 
livan" entered. He recognized me, at least: 
there was a deal of gratification in that. For 
what he did, after he had carried a bundle of 
letters and manuscripts to an inner room. I 
never have been aide to decide whether I owe 
to him thanks or blame. When he reappeared, 
he said to me: 

'Mr. Whitelaw Reid is alone in his office, 
I'll take in your name and he'll see you." 

Here was an unexpected opportunity to 
meet "Agate." whose war correspondence, in 
theJCincinnati Gazette, had thrilled my boyish 
blood during the Rebellion. "Sullivan" was 
back in a half minute and led me into the 
presence! 




WHITELAW REID 

■ ill- " 



Here was a man of very different type from 
any 1 had met. He was very formal when I 
said I wanted to learn the newspaper business. 
He did not give to me the slightest encourage- 
ment, explaining that the staff was already too 
large and that in the summer every reporter 
who could be spared was "let go." I remem- 



ber that phrase, because it was the first time 
my cars had heard it. At any rate I would 
have to see the city editor — 

Turning to go away, Mr. Reid saw a pin 
of the Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity 
upon my vest. He sprang to his feet. He ex- 
tended his right hand, the "grip" was given 
and returned. At that instant, "Sullivan" re- 
appeared and mentioned the return of E. B. 
Moore, the city editor. 

"Come!" said Mr. Reid, with boyish enthu- 
siasm, still holding my hand. "I'll introduce 
you to the City Editor and ask him to give 
you a chance to show what you can do." 

In less time than I can speak it. I was "on 
space," with the prestige of an introduction 
by the managing-editor! It did not mean a 
great deal, but it was the start I had been 
seeking. It was followed by two and a half 
years of severe, merciless training, and the 
acquirement of a style of composition that re- 
quired years to overcome — a method of setting 
forth news best described as the Grocer's Bill 
style. Facts, facts: nothing but facts; so 
many peas at so much a peck, so many beans 
at so much a quart ! 

To a beginner, opportunity is everything. 
It came to me. unexpectedly, only a few days 
after I had been so dramatically attached to 
the Tribune. On the morning of July 12th, 
the City Editor said: "Go to Elm Park this 
afternoon and give me a quarter column about 
the picnic of the Orangemen." The assign- 
ment was not believed to be important, or it 
would not have been given to a novice. Elm 
Park was on the high ridge of land between 
Central Park and the Hudson, about West 
Ninety-second street. St. Agnes's church now 
stands upon its site; but at that time neither 
Columbus avenue nor cross streets had been 
opened. The only means of access was by 
the Eighth avenue horse-cars; more than an 
hour's ride. I was young; the Orancemen 
took me to their hearts, because I was the 
only reporter sent to them. I danced with 
the giils and played ball with the boys. 

Suddenly, the wooden gate was broken in 
and a gang of men. who had been working at 
aqueduct pipes on Eighth avenue, rushed into 
the grounds. Stones were thrown and clubs 
freely used. Many people were struck by the 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



13 



flying missiles. One man of middle age, 
seated with his family, was hit on the head 
with a paving stone and killed. Half an hour 
elapsed before a squad of police appeared and 
drove oft' the intruders. 

"The Elm Park Riot" is a memorable 
event in metropolitan history. 1 knew I had 
a highly sensational piece of news. Gathering 
the names of the injured men and women, and 




foun 



d the grou 



THE EVENING POST BUILDING, 1871 

securing from friends of the dead man all ob- 
tainable information regarding his trade and 
place of abode. I hurried to the Eighth avenue 
cars and reached Printing House Square be- 
fore an announcement of the disturbance had 
come from Police Headquarters. The City 
Editor comprehended thai he could "beat the 
town" if he could get the besl out of the only 
reporter-eye-witness! He despatched men in 
several directions. Those scut to the scene 
of the riot, like reporters from other journals. 



gone, sorrow full\ 



closed and the picnickers 
o their homes. 

Attentions were showered upon the young 
reporter that night. He was given a desk in 
a private room. He was told to "Write! 
Write! and keep writing!" Experienced work- 
men laid out the "story." telling the novice 
how to keep on but warning him not to quit. 
( Irudities in the copy were trimmed out: parts 
were re-written and expanded; and next day 
"the new man" received credit for nearly 
four columns at $10 per column. 

"This is the finest job imaginable!" I com- 
mented on payday, when my first success and 
"follow-up" articles, including the murdered 
Orangeman's funeral swelled my bill to $100. 
Poor innocent ! 1 assumed 1 was about to be- 
come "a star man": but, alas (with one 
exception, when I saved the report of a yacht 
race). 1 was rarely permitted to earn more than 
$10 a week for the next six months. 

Here we leave the worker and return to the 
hive! 

New York was shaking herself loose from 
the enthrallment of the Civil War. Garbage, 
in the shape of deserted barracks, broken 
forage wagons that had been left where they 
stalled, and posters, calling for volunteers at 
large bounties, encumbered parks and streets 
and defaced dead walls. The southern end 
of City Hall Park was surrounded by a fence. 
Barnum's Museum, a boy-haven prior to 
"the cru-el war." had gone uptown to be 
burned out a second time. The marble struc- 
ture of the New York Herald stood partly 
upon its original site. 

The "rim. gray Astor House impressed me 
most of any building m the city, i ears after- 
ward, standing before the Cheops Pyramid at 
Gizeh, 1 recalled my first impression of that 
old hotel. 

Remembering what Charles Nordhoff had 
said to me about Broadway, I walked much 
upon thai thoroughfare; but the profitable 
suggestion made by the editor advantaged me 

DO ' i i • 

naught. 1 wrote many paragraphs about its 
happenings, but they were dropped into a 
basket, or 1 was cruelly told that newspapers 
were not printed for grandmothers or simper- 
ing idiots. This phrasing is far inside the 
mark. An attempt at the pathetic was char- 



14 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



acterized as "writing for grandmother"; an 

effort at description was assumed to be writ- 
ten by or for an idiot! The Grocer's Bill was 
the proper model: "John Brown, aged 5(5, 
married, was thrown from the fire-engine lie 
was driving and instantly hilled. Body at the 
morgue." A suggestion to visit the home of the 
dead man. to describe the grief of the widow 
or to foretell the wants of the children was dis- 
couraged. 'Idie dead fireman was or was not a 
hero: he had or he had not turned his team 
to avoid killing a pedestrian. A score of sug- 




H! I III I'.INi; BUILDING AND NEWSPAPER ROW VS IT 
APPEARED IX 1S7I 



gestions that made for "the good story" of 
the presenl day were deliberately ignored! 

New York was awake; hut it was in the 
clutches of a gang of unscrupulous politicians, 
the first consummate "grafters," hut not the 
worst or the last. Broadway, above Thirty- 
fourth street, was. literally, "as crooked as a 
deer's hind legs." Central Park was already 
a place of beauty, hut every other bit of open 
ground, even the Battery, was filled with 
debris of the conflict. Tents had disappeared 
from the southern end of City Hall Bark and 
a proposition that the City grant the site to 
the general Government for a federal building 
was favorably considered. At that time New 
York needed public buildings. Its post-office 
structure was a wretched brick affair far down 



Nassau street, where now stands the Mutual 
Life Insurance Company's edifice. 

Much talk is heard about "the dear old 
limes of the early Seventies." The city then 
contained a trifle more than a million inhabi- 
tants. Its markets were filthy and infested 
with rats; not one stall keeper in ten possessed 
an ice-box for preserving his meats or butter, 
(did storage was unknown. Stages were un- 
heated in winter; so were the street cars, hav- 
ing in addition a mass of wet, filthy straw 
upon their floors. The cushioned seats of all 
public vehicles were alive with vermin. A 
paid fire department had just been organized, 
but it was ridiculously inefficient. The police 
force was an undisciplined mob of decrepit 
foreigners, owing their places to politicians 
rather than capacity, and imbued with the 
duty of protecting crime instead of honest 
householders and tradesmen. The vilest cor- 
ruption in public office prevailed. The city 
tax-rate was higher than now. There wasn't 
any Board of Health; 1,400 citizens had died 
from cholera as late as 18(i(i and small-pox 
epidemics occurred each winter. During 
February of 1 <S7^, I rode in a Third avenue 
car several miles with a small-pox patient, 
the pustules upon whose face were unhealed. 
Butchers slaughtered cattle under any condi- 
tions that suited them. A Society for the pre- 
vention of Cruelty to Children did not exist. 
Juvenile delinquents were committed to jail in 
company with incorrigible criminals. 

Prior to the opening of Mouquin's French 
restaurant on Fulton street, there wasn't a 
good eating-house down-town or one at which 
real French wines could be obtained at reason- 
able prices. The saloons and "sample rooms " 
were dives, generally with sand or saw-dust 
upon their floors, and the bar-keepers were 
ruffians. Most people encountered in ears or 
stages neglected their teeth. Elevators were 
unknown, long flights of stairs had to be 
climbed to offices. These were heated by coal 
or wood stoves and the bins for fuel encum- 
bered the halls. After the extinction of Bar- 
man's (1868) the city hadn't any museums, 
art galleries, or kindred educational influences. 
Good driving roads did not exist and the parks, 
excepting Central and Prospect, were jokes. 
Wallack's was the only well-appointed theatre 
on Manhattan Island. Others were located 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



15 



over shops and were veritable fire-death traps, 
with narrow and crooked stairways, sure to 
jam in cases of panic. Coney Island was four 
hours' ride in horse-cars and was an unsafe 
place to visit, being infested by thugs, three- 
card monte and nut-shell gamblers. Except- 



ing Beecher and Chapin, there wasn't a min- 
ister in any pulpit worth hearing; several imi- 
tators of Beecher, who wore their hair long, 
had temporary vogue. No rational amuse- 
ment was to he had and. all things considered, 
the city was dismal, dark and 



damnable 





Newspaper Ro« as it : owing the change 
withlhe view on page l I taken in 1871 Mm Shi Idin 



hanges of forty years con 

iL' i. mains I tie same I 




TrOm\ ■ into i kyscrapel and the u arid I uilding ha arisen on 

the site i i I he old French Hotel. 



16 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



The original one-legged elevated railway 
had been opened on Greenwich street in 1S(!7. 
its original inventor, designer and patentee 
being diaries T. Harvey. The cars were 
operated by a cable that originally ran atop 
the structure and returned underground; but 
in 1869, when the road was extended up Ninth 
avenue as far as Thirtieth street — the passen- 
ger station of the New York Central at that 
time the cable was run in a continuous circuit 
over the tops of the pillars. When I Hist saw 
these cars, they were of curious construction. 
To keep the centre of gravity close to the 
rails, the centres of the cars were depressed 
between the forward and rear trucks. The 
cars were like a two-humped camel, the place 
between the humps reached by a descent of 
two steps. The cable was not satisfactory and 
dummy engines were substituted. 

The so-called Gilbert road did not appear 
until 1870, and many people were not aware 
of its existence for many months. It was 
erected inconspicuously on West Third street, 
between Sixth avenue and South Fifth avenue, 
and is still standing. Upon that little bit of 
steel superstructure, all the elevated railroads 
of the world are based! During 1873-'?4. it 
was extended southward lo Rector street and 
northward on Sixth avenue to Fifty-eighth 
street. On an invitation from George M. 
Pullman and General Horace Porter, I made 
a trip on the first passenger train from the 
yard below Rector street to Fifty-eighth 
street station. Time, 11 minutes! 

The Third avenue line was undertaken in 
l(S?(i and the Second avenue road soon fol- 
lowed. An extension of the Ninth avenue line 
to Manhattanville came some time after. 
Remembering, as 1 did, when John Foley, 
the gold pen man, had extended the Fourth 
avenue horse-cars up Madison avenue, then 
nothing but a succession of mud-holes. I real- 
ize the progress in transit facilities now afford- 
ed by tlie Subways and the East and Hudson 
river tunnels. The substitution of four splen- 
did bridges between various parts of Kong 
Island and Manhattan for ferries, will be con- 
sidered elsewhere. 

A deplorable feature of the city was the 
filthy condition of its streets. A Street ('lean- 
ing Bureau existed, but money appropriated 



was only sparsely used for the purpose. True, 
the sum was small compared with the amount 
spent at the present day, but the conditions 
were such as to breed disease. During the win- 
ters, Broadway was a reeking mass of filthy, 
steaming slush, through which horse-drawn 
stages floundered. Snow was banked at the 
sides of this ami nearly all other thorough- 
fares and remained there until Spring sunshine 
melted it! Avenues upon which car lines ran 
had the tracks cleared by sweeping-machines, 
drawn by long lines of horses. If laws ex- 
isted for keeping street gutters open, they were 
not enforced, and Spring floods, filling cellars 
in all parts of town, were annual incidents. 

Recalling the non-provision for the public 
health, it is not remarkable that the city was 
annually swept by an epidemic of some sort. 
Hospitals were few: the New York on Broad- 
way, opposite the northern end of Pearl street, 
and Bellevue, far away, as then seemed, on the 
East river, were the only public institutions 
for emergency patients. Chambers street hos- 
pital, that became a great boon to people in- 
jured in the business section of New York, was 
not opened at that time. Police stations 
served the purpose of emergency hospitals. 

Immorality flaunted its various trades before 
tlu 1 eyes of young and old. ( hatham street, as 
Park Row was then known from Printing 
House square to Chatham square, was a pro- 
cession of low dives and second-hand clothing 
shops, each class having its "barkers" upon 
the sidewalks, soliciting custom. In Greene 
and Mercer streets, signs, with letters a foot 
high, announced the infamous character of 
certain establishments. Pompeii was not a 
whit worse, as a subsequent visit to "The 
House of the Wolf," in that long buried city, 
proves. Familiarity with nearly every large 
city of Europe, since that time, justifies me 
in declaring that New York of 1870 was the 
vilest city east of Suez! Gambling-houses w ere 
running openly in all parts of the city. Shortly 
after my engagement on the Tribune, that 
journal published a list of several hundred such 
places and was laughed at for its pains. Eater, 
when Kelso was Chief of Police, this same 
journal, striving to attract attention and cir- 
culation, rented from "The" Allen a "badger" 
house and ran it for a fortnight, with the con- 



THE BOO K of NEW YORK 



17 



porters, 1 formed his 
of other city officials. 



nivance of bribed police. The two men who 
undertook thai task were Arthur Pember, an 
Englishman, and E. ^ . Breck, now a distin- 
guished lawyer of Pittsburg. Il was "a good 
story" and made talk; I nit not a reform was 
effected. Those were the days of "scarlet 
journalism" for thai publication! The so- 
called "yellow journalism" of thirty-five years 
later was only mildly "sensational" by com- 
parison.* 

William M. Tweed was a man of Herculean 
physical dimensions. Like most active re- 
acquaintance, as well as 
Tweed rarely held any 
public office, but was recognized as the local 
Warwick who "made" and "unmade" candi- 
dates. In the line of reportorial duty. I fre- 
quently visited him in his offices. Never to 
my recollection did 1 see him at the City Hall. 
If he wanted to talk to Mayor Hall, he sent for 
him. One of his offices was in Dunne street, 
near Broadway; the other in the brownstone 
building at the southern corner of Park Place 
and Broadway, over the Broadway Bank — the 
site now occupied by a skyscraper. He was 
always accessible to reporters and talked with 
utmost frankness before them, when his under- 
lings happened to come in. Whatever may be 
said of Tweed, and there is little else credit- 
able that can be said of him, he was not a hypo- 
crite. He was a "grafter" and did not make 
a secret thereof. 

Social conditions in a city that was shaking 
itself loose from the entanglements of tin- 
Civil War, the Draft Riots and the wretched 
mis-management under which its people had 
suffered for a 
curious. 

the war. and professional heroes, who had 
clung to the real heroes of the Federal Army, 
were striving to crowd themselves into the 
small and exclusive social circles already 
formed by Knickerbocker descendants or 
earlier tradesmen who had made fortunes be- 
fore the conflict and had invested their money 
in acre property already coming into market 
as city lots. .lay Gould was remembered as 
a seller of railroad tickets at No. 1 Astor 
House, and although he became associated 

•Anybody desiring to compare the "scarlet" journalism of 1^71 '7_> 
with the "yellow" oi the present time can find the panel-housa article in 
The TVi'liUNf mi March IG. 1872. 



generation, were even more 
Families that had been enriched by 



with .lames Fisk, Jr., about thai time, 
was supposedly the stronger mind. ( 
encouraged that belief; he used Fisk 



Fisk 

rould 

as a 



mask and did it so effectively thai the man 

of real power in the combination was not sus- 

"'ie 



Tl 



pected until alter the Colonel's death.* 
great public balls, of that period, whether 
given for "charity" or to entertain a scion of 
European royalty, such as the Russian Grand 
Duke Alexis, were exceedingly miscellaneous, 
dopile efforts to the contrary. The annual 
French ball was a drunken orgy, such as never 
has been exceeded by students of the Latin 
Quarter or of Montmartre. Were I to accu- 
rately describe almost any one of these affairs 
that occurred between 1870 and 1SS0, the mails 
ought to be denied to this book. 

The progress of the Franco-Prussian war 
in Europe did not interfere with the sport- 
loving Americans during the late summer of 
1870. Commodore James Ashbury, of the 
Royal Harwich Yacht Club, first challenger 
for the "America" cup. won in English waters 
by Henry Steers in 1851, was here with his 
schooner "Cambria" and raced unsuccessfully, 
as other contestants have since done. When 
August S arrived. I determined to see my first 
yacht race. 1 asked for the day off and early 
in the morning boarded the "Sylvan (den." 
an excursion boat, at Peck Slip. As it hap- 
pened, that particular boat got alongside the 
stern of the lightship, which was the turning 
point, and became a menace to the racing 
yachts. I saw every contestant round the light- 
ship and took the time with my watch. When 
I returned to the office that night. I heard 
"Pop" Chadwick, the sporting editor and al- 
ready known as "The Father of Baseball." 
complaining that the tug assigned to reporters 
had gol aground on the Southwest Spit and 
had thus prevented the scribes from witnessing 
the turning of the stake boat. The Herald, 
he said, had its own steam tugs over every yard 
of the course, and would have a complete 
"story," but the Tribune was sure to be beaten ! 

With considerable courage, as I thoughl at 
that time. I staled my experience of the day 
to City Editor Moore and offered to supply 
"the missing link." First, correcting my 
watch with that of the sporting editor, whose 



.1 leall nil i hi period ol New York in "( »n a Ma 
published by Mitchi il Ki qui rl y 



IS 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



time-piece had been set with that of the official 
timer, I sat down and "ground out" about 
2,000 words of stop-gap copy. Had as I al- 
ways realized it to be, the time set down was 
within a second or more of the time officially 
given, the order of rounding was correct, and 
whether the boats had "gibed" or "rounded" 
made little difference. "Rotten" as the tech- 
nique must have been, 1 had "'saved the night " 
for my paper and was the City Editor's pet 
for several days. As a reward. I was sent on 
the annual cruise, up Long Island Sound to 




THE LATE JOHN HAY 
At that time a prominent member of tin- Tribune stall 

Newport, and enabled to make the acquaint- 
ance of nearly every yacht owner in the fleet. 
Most prominent was .lames Gordon Bennett, 
Jr., then barely 29, to whose service I was 
later to give the best years of my life. When 
we realize that Mr. Bennett opened Africa to 
the civilized world, his commanding place 
among the great men of his lime must be con- 
ceded. The qualities that make him different 
from other editors are those that most com- 
mand respect and admiration. 

The first meeting with an epoch-making 
man generally leaves an indelible impression. 



The writer encountered Mr. Bennett on board 
the "Dauntless," in the summer of INTO. His 
schooner yacht lay at anchor in Newport har- 
bor one beautiful August morning. The waters 
of that land-locked bay sparkled in the first 
rays of the rising sun as a small boat carried 
Captain Roland Coffin and me from India 
Wharf toward the "Dauntless." It was to be 
a race day and we had been invited to sail 
with Mr. Bennett. Far apart from any an- 
chored craft, we saw a swimmer whose head 
and shoulders were moving at racing speed. 
His brown hair was cropped short. His 
shapely head turned now and again, as, in 
using the English stroke, he vigorously 
"reached" with his right hand. The skill of 
the swimmer indicated the athlete. His face 
we did not see. 

The guests were welcomed aboard the 
"Dauntless" by Sailing-Master Samuels. A 
few minutes later, the swimmer, who proved 
to be Captain Bennett, came on deck over 
the side a tall, lithe man. robed only in 
Nature's pink morocco and covered with 
sparkling drops of brine. He extended a 
hand, not less hospitable because it bore the 
ocean's chill. Mr. Bennett was then one of 
the prominent figures in American life, be- 
cause it was universally recognized that, on 
the death of his father and Mr. Greeley, he 
would become the chief of American journal- 
ism. 

Captain Bennett, soon after chosen Com- 
modore of the Xew York Yacht Club, was a 
deep-sea sailor who crossed the ocean in his 
own boats. He was the "enthusiasm" of 
every seaman m the pleasure fleet then in 
Newport harbor. American yachting has 
never been the same since he ceased active 
participation therein. The slightest sugges- 
tion of a race was sufficient for him to oiler a 
prize cup. His own cabin was adorned with 
golden and silver trophies. Every piece bore 
an inscription that chronicled better seaman- 
ship than that of a rival. There were enthusi- 
astic yachtmen in those days, and Bennett 
was captain of them all. 

The elder Bennett died in the summer of 
1872. Prior to that event, the son had begun 
the active management of the Herald which 
lie has retained every hour since. Stanley 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



1!) 



had been sent by him to Ijiji (in 1871) and 
had found Livingstone. Like many of the 
best things done in journalism, the execution 
of this task was not nearly so splendid as its 
conception. Stanley had his troubles. The 
trail from Bagamoyo, on the mainland oppo- 
site the insular city of Zanzibar, to Lake Tan- 
ganyika is now as well known as the National 
Road from Washington City to Cumberland, 
Md. Anybody can make the trip to-day; but 
it was not so in 1871— '72. Stanley's return 
was a memorable event in American journal- 
ism. It marked the dawn of a new idea. The 
discovery of the missing missionary created the 
news! Correspondents had served on battle- 
fields as early as Xenophon, but the making 
of legitimate news was a stroke of genius. 
And the idea was Mr. Bennett's. Up to the 
moment of Stanley's return, nobody outside 
his immediate family had felt any special in- 
terest in Livingstone; but Mr. Bennett gave 
to the missionary a grave in Westminster 
abbey. 

Later in the Eall of the year 1870, about 
October, in a match race between Ashbury 
and Bennett oil' Sandy Hook light-ship, I was 
appointed time-keeper aboard the light-ship 
and passed thereon a night of horrible illness. 
It was my first and only experience with sea 
sickness, and the assurance from Captain 
Cosgrove that pilots came aboard the anchored 
craft and became desperately sick did not 
comfort me. I remember to have met William 
B. Astor. grandfather of the two heads of the 
Astor family of to-day. August Belmont, 
Moses Grinnell, whom I was afterwards to 
know as Collector of the Port, and William P. 
Douglas, a handsome young man who owned 
the "Sappho." A humorous incident of the 
day was that Lawrence Jerome, universally 
called "Larry," exchanged his gold stop-watch 
for my ticker and when I had to climb the 
"Jacob's ladder" at the stern of the light-ship. 
1 was fearful his valuable watch might drop 
from my pocket. It was my first experience 
with a swinging rope ladder anil 1 had not 
learned, as 1 have since, to climb both sides 
thereof. The ladder doubled up on me and 
nothing but my training in college athletics 
saved me from a ducking. 

Meanwhile the battle of Gravelotte (Aug. 



18), had occurred and the Tribune, owing to 
its combination with the London Daily News, 
scored a great beat. The French under 
Bazaine had been shut up in Met/. Bayard 
Taylor, who had been a lecturer on German 
literature at Cornell University and was then- 
fore known to me, came in one afternoon and 
we renewed our acquaintance. Among other 
things he predicted the surrender of Bazaine, 
which seemed incredible, and the early over- 
throw of Napoleon III. But President White 
had made the same prophecy about the Empire 
a year before in his class-room lectures on 
France. While Taylor and I were talking. Jn 







New York Fosl Office forty years ago. The Mutual Life Building now 
occupies thai site. 



big man, wearing long hair and a black soft 
hat. slouched through the city room, en route 
to that of Managing-Editor Reid. I had seen 
the figure on the platform in Ohio three years 
before and knew it to he that of Theodore 
Tilton. 

"There goes the most solemn ass in Amer- 
ica," said Bayard Taylor, 'Mark my words, 
he'll prove it before he is much older." How 
often that remark recurred to me when sitting, 
for davs at a time, at the trial of the case know rj 
to legal history as "Tilton vs. Beecher." more 
than Four years later! 

The great crime of that year had been the 



20 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Nathan murder, which occurred in the large 
brown-slone mansion of the hanker on Twenty- 
third street, west of Broadway on the south 
side. Jordan was ( 'hiel' of Police and although 
the crime had occurred in July, it continued to 
crop up as a news feature during the Fall and 
Winter. The mystery, like that of Dr. Bur- 
dell at .'»1 Bond street, many years previous, 
never was cleared. The assertion was often 
made that the burden of a belief which he could 
not prove caused the death of Superintendent 
Jordan. Best opinion was that the killing was 
done by a relative of the housekeeper and that 
a son of the dead man suffered under very un- 
just suspicion. 

It was a very busy winter. Communication 
with distant parts of the city was arduous, 
owing to the snows, and. as may be imagined. 
the "kid reporter" was not spared. lie, and 
those like him, got all the unremunerative, 
heart-breaking assignments. I was out in all 
sorts of weather and laid the foundation for 
an attack of pneumonia that nearly cost my 
life. 

One of the assignments handed to me that 
Winter was an order for an article on the river 
thieves. I went to Brooks Brothers, then on 
the water front at Catherine street, and fitted 
out in deep-sea togs. After a few nights' 
browsing 'round the sailors' resorts, mean- 
ing saloons, I was taken to the "Catamarket 
Club," a dingy second-story room on South 
street, north of Catherine. 

On my second visit, I saw a tall, cadaverous 
man, with strangely white cheeks. — due, I 
afterwards knew, to "prison pallor." His 
face appealed to me. His fine gray eyes had 
in them a look of hopelessness and lament I 
could not resist. I talked to him; but he was 
shy. lie read me right. lie told me I was 
not a sailor or a tough, like the men and 
youngsters about me. He refused to drink, 
said he never again would touch "the dam- 
nable stuff." I invited him to Dorlon's, at Ful- 
ton Market, to have supper. He accepted, 
with anxious reluctance. A novice could see 
he was hungry, but he still distrusted me. We 
went and 1 gave to him all he could eat. He 
admitted it was his first food in twenty-four 
hours! 1 then made a confidant of him. I 
told him I was a Tribune reporter, but did not 



mention the character of my assignment. He 
admitted to me he had been a river thief: was 
recently out of prison, after a long term. He 
was tired of a career of crime: he thought he 
could be of use to w retches like himself, hunted 
by officers of the law and repudiated by re- 
spectable people. He said he had recently 
visited a mission ami had there awakened to 
faith in the Saviour of Men who had died on 
Calvary. 1 had heard considerable talk of 
that sort and was not sure of my man. He 
did not act like a hypocrite, yet 1 misjudged 
him. 

After we had met several times. I told him 
what I sought: he proved to be a mine of in- 
formation. He had a thief's honor, however; 
he would not "peach" on former "pals." One 
day. I was sent to Wall street to assist the 
chief of that bureau, and was introduced to 
A. S. Hatch, a banker on Nassau street at the 
present site of the Hanover Bank building. 
Mr. Hatch was known as a patron of the 
Oliver Street Mission and an all-round lover 
of humanity. I told him of Jerry McAuley, 
and sent the redeemed river-thief to him with 
a note. Thus began McAuley's remarkable 
career of regeneration. 

Other activities prevented the completion of 
my article for many weeks but. when printed, 
I divided the money received equally with 
McAuley. then installed as the head of the 
Mission at the corner of Oliver and Water 
streets. He was reluctant to take the amount, 
small as it was, but said it was the first honest 
money he had earned in years. 

McAuley's judgment of men was marvellous. 
I remember he said to me one night, after a 
famous parson had prayed: 'There's a false 
note in that man's voice!" And history vin- 
dicated his opinion. But McAuley's life was 
resplendent in good works. He remained 
steadfast unto the end; years afterward, he 
founded the Cremorne Mission in the "Ten- 
derloin" region and saved many unfortunate 
girls from the streets, —sending them to homes 
in the far-away country where Hope welcomed 
them. He was my friend unto the end: I was 
a mourner at his bier. 

For more than thirty years, I held a record 
for the only interview with John I). Rocke- 
feller. It occurred in March, 1871, when the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



21 



whole Titusville region was at fever heal over 
the differentia] rates allowed to the South Im- 
provement Company by "Commodore" Van- 
derbilt and Thomas A. Scott. After all the 
expressions of Titusville and Oil City had 
been secured. I was advised to go to Cleveland 
and talk with a Mr. Rockefeller, associated 
with Harkness and a few others in a general 
commission business "incidentally oil." 

Mr. Rockefeller was found at his warehouse. 
an unpretentious place, and as he was on the 
point of going out. he asked me to walk with 




.JOHN D. ROCKKFEU-Ki: 



him. We tramped through the crisp air for 

more than half a mile, and he gave to me the 
impression that he did not take a greal deal of 
interest in the oil business. He was absolutely 
truthful, because crude oil was then shipped 
in tank cars and the profits were not large, 
even with such rebates as were allowed by (he 
two railroads that reached the region. Hut 
the South Improvement Company blazed the 
way to the Standard Oil Company! During 
years that followed, Mr. Rockefeller and his 
associates piled up the greatest accumulation 
of wealth history ever has known. Now, the 
problem confronts him of knowing what to 
do with this money. 

The wisdom of giving most of it away dur- 



ing life can be recognized when the inheritance 
tax is mentioned. I haven't time to calculate 
what the State of New York, or of Ohio — if 
that be Mr. Rockefeller's legal residence- 
would exact upon a fortune of one billion dol- 
lars. It would be something enormous. There 
isn't the slightest obligation on Mr. Rocke- 
feller's part to surrender such a large sum tor 
the benefit of legislative grafters. lie does 
wisely to disburse the money himself. 

Almost everything will depend upon the 
hands in which this great trust is placed. 
Means should be devised to prevent the direc- 
tors of the Rockefeller Foundation from be- 
coming a self-perpetuating body. Unless that 
objectionable feature he prevented, the Rocke- 
feller Trust will become like the Girard Trust 
of Philadelphia, Sailors Snug Harbor Trust of 
this city, or the Water Power Corporation of 
Lowell. Mass. The latter institution is, per- 
haps, one of the most curious specimens of 
self-perpetuation in this country. Although it 
absolutely owns the splendid water power of 
the Merrimac at Pawtucket Falls and distri- 
butes river water to a score or more of cotton 
mills and bleacheries of Lowell, its ownership 
is a secret that not a citizen of Lowell can 
solve in entirety. There are sixty or eighty 
stockholders, hut even the individual share 
owner is not allowed to see the hooks and may 
not learn who is the holder of another share. 
A close corporation, composed of president, 
treasurer and auditor, possesses this informa- 
tion and declares dividends. 

This serves to indicate tin- dangers to which 
any created "foundation" similar to the Car- 
negie or the proposed Rockefeller funds are 
prone. When as able a lawyer as the late 
Samuel J. Tilden failed to draw a will that 
could not be broken, how can Mr. Rockefeller 
hope to steer clear of the pitfalls into which 
nearly every well-intentioned benefactor of 
smaller hut similar character has fallen. Let 
us suppose this glorious Rockefeller ** founda- 
tion " eventually to drift into the clutches of 
a few men of strong will who would dominate 
the other twenty trustees; there is no telling 
what misuse mighl he made of so enormous a 
fund. 

It might defy the government itself! It 
could lock up money, or it could depreciate 



22 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



the currency. Such an enormous sum of 
money will necessarily have to seek investment 
in the best of railway securities. What is to 
prevent it from creating "corners" or form- 
ing "pools" .' 

The Rockefeller thought is splendid! A 
trifle of fifty or a hundred millions ought to 



suffice for the heirs of the master mind that 
gathered this vast wealth. The transfer of 
the enormous remainder to other hands, with 
explicit directions for its use, should be done 
in a practical manner that never will leave a 
loop-hole for disappointment, or for the per- 
sonal enrichment of a single trustee. 



A 



^. 



mm 



] 2.->,-, 



„& 



?p3a#i 



jiggj 






?'***»* •-'■'■ 



Citizens of New York of lorn 




From Painter's Views. 

LbiAcus ui ncn iuirv ui iuity years ago will remember this bridge over Broadway at 
Fulton Street, erected with the idea that it would relieve the traffic at that point. 




THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



23 



CHAPTER II 



REVOLT AMONG THE CITIZENS 




HE utter collapse of the French 
defence abroad was celebrated 
by a German Peace Jubilee 
oil April to. 1871. Nothing 
exactly like this carnival ever 
occurred in New York. Nat- 
urally, it was confined entirely 
to German-Americans and for the first time 
citizens of the metropolis awoke to the fact 
that there was an enormous body of foreign- 
born people beside Irish in New York! From 
that hour, the German element commanded 
and received recognition at the hands of 
leaders of all parties. 

Out of this celebration developed one of the 
most graphic and sensational narratives I have 
ever encountered. In making my rounds of 
the East River shipping, on a dull day, 1 met 
a priest who told me of the abduction of a 
Swedish girl, daughter of one of his parish- 
ioners. He accompanied me to the home of 
the parents of the missing girl. 1 found the 
mother in tears. While 1 was listening to her 
brief recital of the girl's departure to see the 
parade, ten days before, the door opened and 
the missing daughter entered. After the re- 
joicings were ended, this tall, beautiful. blue- 
eyed young woman told to me the most re- 
markable, circumstantial, coherent, improb- 
able tale of her experience in the hands of a 
procuress that ever was put on paper. Not a 
detail was wanting. She said she had been 
induced to take a drink of water by a middle- 
aged woman who sat in a carriage and remem- 
bered nothing more until she awakened in a 
luxurious apartment. She denied that she 
knew its locality. She was told that she had 
been taken there in the carriage occupied by 
the woman who had addressed her. After a 
fortnight's cogitation, the Tribune printed the 
three-column narrative. It certainly did make 
"good readinff" and got the town bv the ears! 
On the dav following publication, I took 



the girl to Captain Thorn, then in command 
at the City Hall station. Thence. I conducted 
her to the District Attorney's office, where I 
first met Algernon S. Sullivan, then an assist- 
ant. As had been the case with Thorn, the 
girl impressed .Mr. Sullivan. Mayor Hall 
offered a reward of $5,000 for the arrest and 
conviction of the woman who had drugged the 
complainant. Shadowed by a detective in 
plain clothes, unknown to the girl, she and I 
"did" the then "white light district" thor- 
oughly, hoping to see the woman or to locate 
the house in which the girl had been kept 
prisoner. Cross-examined times without num- 
ber, this Swedish beauty never deviated from 
her original story in the slightest degree. She 
answered lawyers and detectives with equally 
ready frankness, staring into the faces of her 
inquisitors from her large, pale-blue eye-. 

After giving almost a month of unpaid time 
to the solution of the mystery. 1 began to 
lose faith in the girl and her story. That re- 
markable narrative, as written by me from 
the young woman's lips, will be found in the 
Tribune of May 5, 1871. To this hour, it holds 
the blue ribbon for a right-off-the-reel narra- 
tive of a 17 -year-old girl! I have written hun- 
dreds of " interviews " since that day. but never 
one that quite equalled that one in all respects. 

Among my friends at that time was Judson 
Jarvis, a son-in-law of Michael T. Brennan, 
afterward Sheriff. One day. Jarvis and I 
were at Broadway and Chambers street, about 
to cross to Delmonico's, then at the northwest 
corner, for luncheon. A man whom we had 
known as "Page," when he was in the Hoard 
of Aldermen, was standing near us. This 
fellow had been elected to the Assembly the 
preceding November, since which time he had 
called himself Page, using an acute accent 
over the final letter of his name. Quick as 
thought, Jarvis exclaimed : 

"Hello. Mr. Page. Waiting for the stage ?" 

,* r^ r^ 



24 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



In June, 1871, I was transferred to Will 
street. Mr. Cleveland. Horace Greeley's 
brother-in-law, wrote the financial article hut 
1 made a daily round of forty brokers' offices, 
visited the Custom House. Merchants' Ex- 
change, Assay Office and Slock Exchange. 
Thomas Murphy was Collector and 1 saw 
him nearly every day. Whenever he could not 
give me information I sought, he referred me 
to Deputy-Collector Thomas Lemuel James, 
who had the instincts of a newspaper man 
because he had been an editor for ten years 
at Hamilton, \. Y. Very soon. 1 realized the 
Heedlessness of seeing Collector Murphy or 
Chester A. Arthur, who succeeded him. and 
went direct to Mr. James. What he did not 
know about the customs service was not worth 
seeking. lie had entered the department in 
1851 as an inspector, had become a weigher 
in 1864 and a deputy collector in 1870; hut 
the career of my long-while friend really be- 
gan in L873, when President Grant made him 
Postmaster of New York. He soon attracted 
the attention of every citizen of the metropolis 
who sends or receives mail! Whatever the 
impression may have been regarding the dis- 
patch of letters prior to Postmaster James's 
time. New Yorkers realized that a man had 
been installed as the director of an expeditious 
service. He put mail cars on the Third avenue 
line; and as soon as the elevated roads were 
open had sacks carried thereon by special mes- 
sengers to the various stations along their en- 
tire lengths, thus saving hours in time over 
Former horse-drawn vans. 

The Department of Posts was originally 
established for the sole use of monarchs and 
their administrative systems, and it is regret- 
table that in the earlier days of this republic a 
feeling prevailed that "any old time" would 
do for the delivery of a letter. Of course. I 
was an early caller on the new Postmaster. 
One of the first things he said was, "I find 
much inconvenience occasioned to the busi- 
ness community by careless people who forget 
to put stamps upon their letters. 1 am going 
to try an experiment. The regulation is that 
all unstamped letters, not hearing direction 
for return, go to the 'Dead Letter Office' 
where I hey aie opened and returned to the 
sender. Now. I have put ii]) $100 of my own 



money to supply stamps for the benefit of the 
recipients of such letters, — not the senders. I 
have had a small paster printed which will he 
affixed to cadi letter so forwarded at our ex- 
pense, stating the facts and asking for the 
return of the postage. We have met with 
encouragement in some directions, although a 
few people to whom we have rendered this 
gratuitous service pay no attention to our 
suggestion. This is partly due to careless 
secretaries who open mail; hut. on the other 
hand, here is a letter from a grateful citizen, 
saying that the delay of a certain letter for- 
warded by us would have entailed heavy 
financial loss. He incloses one dollar for the 
fund!" The carrier system was enlarged and 
the number of daily deliveries greatly in- 
creased. Mr. James introduced the dictum: 
"A letter must he kept in motion: it must not 
lie dormant at any branch office!" 

When Mr. James was made Postmaster- 
General in President Garfield's Cabinet, 
March .">, 1881, lie merely expanded the same 
idea until it embraced the service of the coun- 
try! When transferred to Washington, Mr. 
Pearson, who had enjoyed thorough training 
under Mr. .lames, succeeded to the post. This 
was the era of development for special mail 
trains on most of the trunk lines, in which 
Theodore N. Vail was an efficient coadjutor of 
the hustling Postmaster-General. At Car- 
field's death. General Arthur succeeded to the 
Presidency. Mr. James remained in office 
until January, 1882, when he accepted the 
Presidency of the Lincoln National Hank in 
New York City. This hank is the custodian 
of the Vanderbilt millions. Under the James 
regime, its deposits have multiplied; its build- 
ing has been quadrupled in size and its busi- 
ness has doubled on itself over and over again. 
Mr. James comes into town every week-day 
from his pretty home at Highwood, N. J.; he 
served as Mayor of Tenafiy in 1896. lie is 
a Director in the Metropolitan Life Insurance 
Company. Although not a college graduate, 
he has been given the honorary degrees of 
A.M., by Hamilton College, and of LL.D.. 
by Madison University, St. Francis Xavier and 
St. John's Colleges. The sturdy traits of this 
man have commanded my constant respect 
for forty years. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



zo 



Still travelling on the reputation as a yacht- 
ing expert acquired at the first aquatic event 
of the kind I ever had witnessed, I spent much 
of the Summer of 1871 upon the water. Re- 
porters of metropolitan newspapers were al- 
ways welcome upon the yachts of the New 
York fleet, and although, at Newport, we 
lived at the Ocean House, we were constantly 
invited aboard the competing yachts during a 
series of races that occurred off that port. 

During that summer, a remarkable instance 
of the value of memory occurred. After a 
yacht race off Sandy Hook, I was returning to 
the city aboard the steamer "Seth Low." work- 
ing at my copy in the pilot house. As we passed 
Quarantine, after nightfall. I noticed several 
steamers being lightered. Great flambeaux 
burnt holes in the night! 

"What does that mean .-" I asked, turning to 
Captain Bloodgood, in command of the boat. 

"It is Quarantine fraud!" he replied. 

" Must be a big story there?" I suggested. 

"Indeed there is; and the man who can give 
it to you is Harry S. Miller, a commission mer- 
chant on South street. 

In another moment I realized that I had 
several thousand more words to write and re- 
turned to work. Hut the name of "tin' man 
who knew" must have lingered in one of mem- 
ory's lockers, as the sequel will show. 

Late in October of that year, I was called 
into the Managing-Editor's room one after- 
noon and (old the following: 

" We have information that gross impositions 
are practiced upon the commerce of this port, 
several hundred thousand dollars per year be- 
ing extorted from the merchants. I have had 
Mr. Pember at Staten Island for a month seek- 
ing information on the subject, but he has 
utterly failed. Now I am going to try you! 
See what you can do; I do not make any sug- 
gestions or give to you any orders." 

Leaving the august presence in a bewildered 
mental state, seeing slight prospect of success 
in an undertaking al which one of the most 
experienced men on the stall' had failed, the 
incident on the "Seth Low" recurred to me. A 
city directory gave me the address of the ship 
chandler. Hounding down the iron stairway. 1 
ran through Ferry street to Heck Slip and not 



he man 1 sought. 



far above that point foun< 
He was opening a keg of mackerel as I entered 
his warehouse, hut when told I came at the 
suggestion of Captain Hloodgood of the "Seth 
Low." he led the way to his private office. 
There he agreed for $'-200 to give all informa- 
tion about Quarantine in his possession, to the 
Tribune. This he did that night at his house 
in Cranberry street, Brooklyn, where George 
E. Mills, then a stenographer in the Supreme 
Court, but for many years thereafter secretary 
to Collis P. Huntington, took down about 
8,500 words regarding the Quarantine pirates. 
I subsequently obtained the books of the pirat- 
ical company, known as "The New \ork 
Stevedore. Lightering & Towing Company," 
from Clark Mills, its secretary. 1 prepared 
and printed forty-odd columns of evidence and 
figures, upon the strength of which Governor 
Hoffman removed the Health Officer of the 
Port. The Legislature appointed an Investi- 
gating ( 'oinmittee which went to the root of all 
the extortions. The house of E. D. Morgan 
& Co. had been severe sufferers and Solon 
Humphrey, its manager, was anxious to raise 
a fund among benefited merchants as a pres- 
ent to the Tribune reporter; but as 1 was re- 
ceiving the munificent sum of $'•2.5 per week, 
the testimonial, which I was assured would 
equal $5,000. was declined. What could I 
possibly want with more money? 

Another important journalistic triumph 
scored by the Tribunein 1871 was the capture 
and publication in advance of all rivals of the 
Treaty of Washington, providing for the ar- 
bitration of the Alabama claims. The means 
by which the text was obtained has been a 
well-guarded secret. As matter of fact, a 
printed copy had been left in a committee 
room by a Senator, where it was found by a 
janitor cleaning the room and was sold for a 
price. The importance of the "beat" is 
secondary to the journalistic dictum which it 
called forth when White and Rainsdell. the 
Washington correspondents, were arrested by 
order of the Senate. The editor of the Tribune 
took a high stand for the rights of journalists, 
using these words: *'It is the business of the 
Governmenl to keep its secrets; it is the duty 
of our correspondents to gel us the news." 
This dictum may have been in contempt of 



26 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



court, bul it has been invoked and has been 

sustained in many cases. Highly as this lan- 
guage may be commended, 1 must in candor 
mention that when, in the heal of the < 'onkhng- 
Garfield controversy, the Herald "indirectly" 
obtained and printed a long telegram from the 
editor of the Tribune to the late John Hay, 
advising as to Garfield's course in the appoint- 
ment of Robertson to the Collectorship of this 
Port, tin's same editor, forgetting his dictum, 
became very angry and called Mr. Bennett 
had names. 

As a printer's hoy. I had been taught to 
"follow copy, if it went out the window"; 
hut I had some sense knocked into my green 
head that Spring by a suspension (my only 
one in thirty-five years' experience) because 1 
obeyed written orders! Furthermore, the pun- 
ishment was absolutely just. I was rushed off 
on an assignment in Connecticut. I intended 
to gel my '"story" and to return with it. As 
I was entering a cab, to drive to the railroad 
station, a note from my editor was thrust into 
my lingers directing me lo slay over at New 
London and lo send my copy down by the 
baggage master of a train on the Shore Line 
leaving there at 7 :.'!() p.m. I was particularly 
ordered not lo telegraph the matter — because 
the horrors of the Paris Commune laid a terri- 
ble embargo on the expense account at the 
lime. 

The facts were secured, the article written, 
inclosed in an office envelope and personally 
delivered into the hands of the baggage master. 
Outside the envelope was the usual order. 
"Pay $2 to hearer for prompt delivery." 1 
had misgivings, hut at thai stage of my ex- 
perience "orders were orders." 

Thai "copy" did not reach the office for 
two days! Then a rum-soaked chap presented 
it and tried to collect the $2. For the first 
time in many years, the baggage master went 
on a spree that particular night! I was 
"beaten." Another man was sent to replace 
me. 1 said to my chief, when 1 returned: "1 
am 'beaten' because 1 followed orders, liter- 
ally. 1 never will again. My suspension of one 
week, without pay, is deserved. There is no ex- 
cuse for losing a piece of news. I have none to 
oiler." 1 was recalled aftera lew days. But the 
lesson was of value to me when 1 was promoted 



to executive work. Never did 1 give an "or- 
der" as to the method of getting a feature; the 
term "suggestion" was always employed. A 
special correspondent, dispatched on a crucial 
undertaking of prime news importance or of 
extra hazard, should he left to his own best 
judgment. He is responsible! I should have 
disregarded orders and brought the "copy." 
or telegraphed it, in face of orders to the con- 
trary. " First of all, the news!" 

During this winter, I attended a memorable 
operatic performance at the Academy of 
Music. It was a matinee and the opera was 
// Trovatore. Ilerr Wachtel was the Manrico; 
Mine. Parepa-Rosa was the Leonora; Ade- 
laide Phillips was the Azucena and Santley, 
the English baritone, was the Count. It was 
such an exceptional cast that $5 a seal was 
charged at the afternoon performance, a price 
that evoked a storm of protest. Carl Rosa, 
who conducted, told me years afterward in 
London that the performance showed a loss. 
Wachtel was at that time the premier tenor 
of the musical world. 

The tall, slender figure of Henry Bergh, 
surmounted by its straight-crowned, French 
silk hat, was to he seen on the streets. He en- 
countered ridicule at first, hut he finally se- 
cured the enactment of laws that gave him 
power to stop the brutality of the human 
toward the animal creation. One vivid recol- 
lection of Mr. Bergh comes to me: 

An aged miser living on West Houston street 
in a hovel died, leaving $65,000 to Mr. Bergh's 
Society. Bergh was a philanthropist as well 
as a lover of animals, and out of his own pocket 
defrayed the cost of a decent funeral for the 
old chap who had starved and gone without 
lire for years to save his money for the benefit 
of the brute creation. 1 happened to he first 
to convey information of this bequest to Mr. 
Bergh; when I told him how the giver of the 
money had lived, he said of the man's self- 
sacrifice: 

"Benevolence is a trait that must he horn 
in a human breast. One cannot acquire it: 
it must come naturally. I am sorry this man 
denied himself the necessaries of life to make 
this bequest. I'd much rather, with such a 
noble impulse in his breast, he had lived more 
generously to himself and left the Society less 




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-28 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



money or none at all; but we must not judge 
him harshly. He probably found more de- 
light in accumulating, rather, hoarding,— 
his money for this specific purpose than he 
would have seemed by spending it upon him- 
self. Every dollar of this fund shall be placed 
where it will accumulate. Who knows but 
this bequest may have been inspired by some 
noble act on the part of an animal and that 
this money is a memorial thereto?" 

The last sentence was highly romantic- ! 
Mr. Bergh didn't appreciate how deeply he 
stirred a young heart. Suppose he were 
right! Had the recluse been a scout on the 
plains, and had a faithful and tireless horse 
given his life to save him from the scalping- 
knife? Had a noble dog, faithful as Gellert, 
defended him from danger when a child? 
Had some other animal, to which he was 
deeply attached, suffered at the brutal hands 
of man ? 

Speaking of animals. 1 am reminded that 
during my second Spring "the learned hog, 
"Wicked Hen.'" made his appearance in Wall 
street. The showman took a basement on 
Broad street, at the present site of the Broad 
Exchange building, and it became quite a 
fad for brokers, after the close of the Stoek 
Exchange, to congregate at the place to play 
cards with the educated animal. One after- 
noon, when I was in the office of Osgood 
Brothers, where the Blair edifice is to-day, a 
party was made up to "play the hog." Each 
man contributed $1 and there were ten of us. 
I recall Franklin and William Osgood, Charles 
Osborn, Cammack, Chapin, Peabody, and 
Ed. House. A committee of three, of which 
I was one, was appointed to do the playing 
for the "pool." 

The porker stood upon a raised dais, car- 
peted with a rug. He appeared to be as 
'intelligent" as any other hog one meets in 
the street-cars or restaurants. The committee 
proposed two tests, of $5 each, — one in euchre, 
besl two games out of three, the other in poker. 
The manager agreed to back the animal for 
equal amounts, and the three of us took charge 
of the entertainment. The manager was to 
deal for the porker, turn and turn about; but 
as soon as tlie cards were laid out, back up- 
wards, upon the carpet, he was to stand aside 



and a member of the committee was to show 
the face of each card (five in number) to the 
hog. This agreement was carried out. The 
hog won the first game — his memory of the 
location of the card he wanted to play being 
perfect. With the tip of his snout he would 
turn oyer the right card, whether he followed 
or led. Never once did he make an error. 
The committee won the second game, due to 
remarkable cards. The third was easily taken 
by the hog. One of the hands played by him 
was very intricate. We settled. 

The poker game followed, best three in five 
hands dealt, with privilege of a draw to win. 
In the technique of the game it was to be a 
"freeze-out"! When my turn came to handle 
the cards for the animal. I was amazed at the 
accuracy of his discard. His hand was with- 
out a pair; he took five cards. Twice he might 
have drawn to a flush, but he would not. He 
would keep a pair of deuces and discard an 
ace and king. Of course, this is rudimentary, 
but I have seen human players foolish enough 
to discard deuces and keep ace-king. 

Seven hands had to be played to decide, but 
the hog got the money — rather his master did. 
The elation of the animal over victory remind- 
ed me of the self-applause of "Blind Tom" 
for his own music. The hog literally capered 
about the platform. 

Taken altogether, it was the best dollar's 
worth of experience 1 ever had. I was taught 
to respect real hogs and to have a greater dis- 
like than before for humans who ape their 
manners, without possessing their natural in- 
telligence. 

An audacious attempt by the Tammany 
cabal to continue its servile Boards of Alder- 
men and Assistant Aldermen in power for one 
year longer than the term for which they were 
elected first served to open the eyes of the peo- 
ple of New York to a realization of the lengths 
to which Tweed and his fellows were inclined 
to go. This incident, preliminary to the tre- 
mendous popular uprising that later occurred, 
was so minimized by the appalling disclos- 
ures that followed that hardly one citizen of 
to-day living at the time will remember it; 
and yet it was the one event that prepared the 
public mind for what was to follow. Briefly, 
it may be stated thus: 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



29 



Exercising complete dominance over the 
Legislature, Tweed had procured the passage 
of an act extending the term of the New York 
City Aldermen and Assistant Aldermen 
elected in 1870 for one year, for an additional 
twelve months! The threatened revolution. 
which had taken definite shape in the creation 
of the Committee of Seventy, rendered it im- 
perative to the Tammany cabal that their crea- 
tures in the Municipal Legislature hold over, 
so that further plans for defrauding the tax- 
payers might he carried oul prior to "the del- 
uge." It was the most daring coup the ring- 
sters had yet tried! It proved to he the most 
impolitic. Honest members of the Democracy 
had joined with a small group of their parti- 
sans, known as the Apollo I lull element, and 
had nominated a city ticket. These candidates 
were endorsed by the Republicans and by the 
Committee of Seventy in October, 1871. This 
fusion ticket was elected in November, despite 
stuffed ballot boxes, but the conspirators who 
had grown to believe they owned New York 
were only partially disillusioned. 

Admittedly, the act of the Legislature ex- 
tending the Aldermanic term was unconstitu- 
tional. A scheme even more amazing than the 
original one was at once concocted to retain 
power: it included the sacrifice by Tammany 
of Mayor A. Oakey Hall! The plan agreed 
upon was to have a special meeting of the two 
Boards of Aldermen in the forenoon of Jan- 
uary 1, 1872. A vote would then be rushed 
through both bodies impeaching the Mayor, 
so that Thomas Coman, President of the Board 
of Aldermen, would become acting Mayor. 
When twelve o'clock struck, it was the inten- 
tion to have all members of the old Board 
tender their resignations and to have the 
acting Mayor immediately appoint the same 
men to tin- vacant offices. Nothing more 
revolutionary was accomplished by Napo- 
leon 111 in the coup d'etat of 1852 or was 
attempted by President MacMahon of France, 
in 1ST!). 

This high-handed outrage was defeated by 
Henry Lauren Clinton, a distinguished lawyer 
of his time, who assembled the reform Alder- 
men in the ( iovernor \s Room of the ( ily Hall, 
served writs of prohibition upon each member 
of the old Boards and when their terms had 



legally expired stormed the assembly chambers 
and took possession of the scats. The sensa- 
tion throughout New York City was profound. 
The newspapers of thai afternoon and of the 
following morning stated the facts with ap- 
proximate clearness; organs in the pay of 
Tammany did not dare to omit the sensational 
occurrence. I was present at thai scene and 
never shall forget the resolute expression on 
Mr. Clinton's face on that momentous occa- 
sion. He was fit to lead a forlorn hope! Blood- 
shed was threatened in the corridor; dethroned 
slaves of Tweed and his coparceners acted as if 
they were submitting to injustice and were 
being deprived of their lawful rights. At this 
distance of time, it is customary to say that the 
overthrow of the Tweed cabal dates from the 
formation of the Committee of Seventy, but 
that distinguished body contained many ini- 
practicables, men without energy or moral 
courage, lacking in initiative and far too timid 
to have sustained their really strong co-ad ju- 
tors. Besides, the citizens in general were in- 
different and went about their business as 
usual, smiling at charges of peculation. 

Theft was one thing; but an attempt of the 
cabal to seize the law-making bodies of the 
municipality and to retain power indefinitely 
savored of nothing but absolute monarchy ! As 
long as a pretense existed of electing the city 
officials, however corrupt the means employed, 
the people endured wrongs that they believed 
to exist. 

From that hour events moved rapidly. 
Mayor Hall was put on trial in the following 
March upon a charge of neglect of official 
duty. Henry L. Clinton managed the prose- 
cution and the testimony presented for the 
firsl time laid bare the appalling extent of 
the public robberies. Several creatures of the 
cabal tinned Stale's evidence, notably A. .1. 
Garvey, and exposed the methods by which 
nearly all bills for supplies or work were in- 
creased from one hundred to three hundred 
pei- cent, liaising of money for corrupt use 
al A II i.i n \ was proven. The evidence against 
Mayor Hall was grave as showing negligence; 
actual criminal connivance and participation 
in the spoils of robbery were not brought home 
to him. The death of a juror, as the trial was 
approaching its end. brought this celebrated 



:?o 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



case to an abrupt termination. Mr. Hall was 
subsequently acquitted. 

The exposure of Tweed had been due to 
accident, not entirely to "Jimmy" O'Brien, 
as asserted at the time. "Steve" Lyons, at the 
head of the county finance department and a 
faithful Tweed henchman, was accidentally 
killed and Matthew J. O'Ronrke, county 
auditor, took charge of the hooks. Casual 
examination revealed thefts to the extent of 
$10, 000, 000! There were doubtless many 
other embezzlements never disclosed, because, 
after the first exposure, a glass door of the 
County Treasurer's office was broken one 
night and vouchers of all paid bills carried 
away! O'Rourke imparted to his friend. 
O'Brien, the find he had made. O'Brien pur- 
suaded him to turn over all his evidence to 
the New York Times. 

Many curious stories were in circulation re- 
garding the publication of the evidence against 
the Tweed ring. One tale declared that a 
certified check for $1,000,000 was laid upon 
the desk of Lewis J. Jennings, then editor of 
the Times. He was to have the money if he 
would cease publication of the Tweed ex- 
posures. Years afterwards, in London, I 
asked Jennings about this yarn and he denied 
that anything of the kind had happened to 
him. He appeared to believe, however, that 
some sort of an attempt had been made to 
"reach" Mr. Morgan, of Auburn, who, with 
George Jones, practically owned the news- 
paper. If so, the scheme failed. Those men 
were not to be bought, — their honor was above 
any price. 

"Jimmy" O'Brien lived on. He witnessed 
the downfall of Tweed, whom he detested. 
He seemed to be in favor with John Kellv, 
but when Richard Croker came to power, as 
chief of Tammany Hall, he tackled him. Here 
was a man of quite different mettle. Their 
enmities culminated in a shooting affray on 
the West side, in which a local tough was 
killed. O'Brien swore he had seen Croker 
fire the shot. A trial followed but the jury 
disagreed. O'Brien then became "a promoter 
of Democratic factions." At every election, 
city or slate. O'Brien came out with a "new 
Democracy" of some sort. His business was 
the building up of organizations for sale to 



the highest bidder. Oftenest, he found the 
best market with the Republicans. He and 
"Steve" French understood each other. Ches- 
ter A. Arthur, also, in those days, was an ad- 
mirer of O'Brien — about election time. 

All "Jimmy's" old allies in the two parties 
died. His only remaining, implacable enemy, 
Croker, voluntarily expatriated himself in Ire- 
land. O'Brien had saved money but he 
seemed alone in this big city. As age claimed 
him, his face grew angular; his gait altered,— 
no longer having the swagger that character- 
ized it in the days of "storm and stress." 1 1 < - 
had fine eyes. Changeable as his political 
creed may have been, there wasn't anything 
shifty about his steel-blue eves. He lived until 
March. 1907. 

The fate of the Tweed ring proved the ca- 
pacity of the honest members of a community 
when thoroughly aroused to protect their com- 
mon interests. The office of the modern news- 
paper never was more clearly demonstrated 
than during that long struggle. One day's 
temporizing by Manton Marble destroyed the 
influence and financial standing of the World— 
making possible Joseph Pulitzer's acquire- 
ment of the property, after twelve years of a 
moribund existence, in 1883. Municipal 
"grafters" of later years have avoided the 
crude methods of the Tweed "Pillagers,"' if I 
may so seriously reflect upon a tribe of Chip- 
peway Indians, dwelling on Cass and Leech 
lakes, Minnesota. 

The United States is a republic, in name; 
but in large cities, like New York, Philadel- 
phia. Chicago and others, dictatorship has 
been vested in one man. as a rule, who has 
named the Mayor and all the city officials, 
and, as matter of course, members of the Leo- 
islature and House of Representatives within 
the confines of the city over which he held 
dominion. In instances such as Tweed, 
Kelly, Croker and Murphy. Xew York state 
came under the control of these local muni- 
cipal "bosses." Tlie same thing was true of 
Philadelphia. "Boss" McManes was too 
shrewd to "go up against" the "Clan Cam- 
eron" in that Commonwealth, but he wielded 
a power in the "Quaker City" equal to that 
of a Persian Satrap or a Roman Tetrarch and 
with greater opportunities for "graft." It 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



31 



was possible for the "boss" of any of these 
large cities to "acquire" one million dollars 
per year in tribute! I could go into this, if 
necessary, down to the lowest collection of 
the "wardman" from the unfortunate pros- 
titute who walked the streets and had to pay 
for the privilege of hunting her prey! Under 
this despotism, not a merchant could receive 
a box of goods or a bale of cloth upon the 
pavement that he owned without rendering 
something to somebody for the "privilege." 
In New York, the citizens wriggled free 
from the clutches of one "boss." only to fall 
into the grasp of another. After Tilden, Peck- 
hani. ( )'( 'onor and ( linton had defeated David 
Dudley Field. John D. Townsend and other 
clever lawyers and sent Tweed to jail the new 
regime became about as unsatisfactory as the 
old one. 

In this year of 1871, I had my first detail 
on an important murder story. It occurred on 
a dull night, when those of us held on "wait- 
ing orders" were drowsy, owing to inaction. 
A messenger entered from Police Headquar- 
ters with a note. It was before the days of the 
telephone; a printing telegraph that ought to 
have served was out of order. When the 
Night City Editor opened the envelope, he 
became a mitrailleuse in action. A big news 
story in sight! A glance at the clock; the 
hour is 11! He calls his "star" reporter. 
James Connelly, and says: 

"John Hawkins. Wall street banker, has 
been murdered in his Fifth avenue home, 
near Tenth street. Body found in parlor by 
his nephew and his daughter on their return 
from theatre. Now, Connelly, take two men 
with you; hire a double team and get the 
story! Kase has left Headquarters and he'll 
meet you at the house. This murder is worth 
every line we can get ready for first edition 
by 2.45, and we will make as many editions 
thereafter as necessary." 

"Here, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Chambers, 
you will as>i>t Mr. Connelly: absolutely under 
his orders. Connelly, I hold you responsible 
for the "story'." 

Then and there the learner gets his first 
experience in a really important case, here 
narrated with slight changes in the names for 
personal reasons. He feels the responsibility 



reposed in him: he comprehends that the sole 
feature of the morrow's paper will be this sen- 
sational crime right here in New York. All 
happenings in other parts of the world become 
insignificant, owing to the prominence of the 
victim and the mystery of his death! 

By this time the three men are in the car- 
riage which an office boy has secured. The 
horses are headed up Broadway, then a de- 
scried thoroughfare. literally on a run. Con- 
nelly plans his campaign. Mr. Johnson will 
be dropped at the New York Hotel to secure 
another cat) for his own use. Connelly keeps 
the novice with him, for "leg work." 

"Kase will have a diagram of the Moor on 
which the murder was done." begins Connelly, 
authoritatively. "We must trace Hawkins's 
movements, from the time he left his office this 
afternoon to the moment of his death. His 
clubs must be visited. If robbery has oc- 
curred, we have a motive: if no theft, we 
must seek a motive. It will be your duty, 
Mr. Johnson, to bring the banker up-town; 
you must secure every detail of the trip, when 
he started, where he stopped and at what club 
he dined. He is a widower and usually dines 
at the Union Club. Call on his partner. 
Radish, at !) Fast Eleventh street, 'round the 
corner from Hawkins's house. He may know 
with whom the deceased man started up-town: 
If so, find that man ! Then hurry to the office 
and write every line possible. Here we are al 
the scene of the murder, — twenty minutes 
after eleven!" 

Kase is awaiting us; he has made and sent 
to the office a floor plan, which will lie con- 
structed of labor-saving rules. From the cap- 
tain of the precinct, on the ground, the story 
of the crime is learned. Additional details are 
few. except that the house is in perfect order, 
not an article missing, and that the killing was 
done with a piece of lead-pipe, left by a 
plumber only two days previously in a corner 
of the hall. Therefore, this is not a premedi- 
tated ciimc but one of necessity, owing to dis- 
covery; or of sudden impulse, suggested by 
sighl of the deadly bludgeon. This presup- 
poses that the blows were struck in the light! 
Nobody knows, as yet. 

"ll is the crime of an amateur!" comments 
Connelly, after he has examined the body, 



32 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



verified the identity of the victim and ascer- 
tained that the blow was struck from behind, 
crushing the skull. 

'The man fell without a cry!" declares the 
Coroner's physician. 'The body was still 
warm, when found." he adds. 

When the nephew and daughter came home, 
the front door was '"on the latch." that is, 
unlocked, and the light in the hall had been 
turned off. Not until the gas was relighted 
was die body seen in the drawing-room. This 
from the nephew: the daughter is hysterical 
and unable to be interviewed. 

"At what theatre was young George Haw- 
kins ?" asks Connelly. 

'The Union Square," is the reply of Kase, 
who has seen the nephew. 

"What were the old man's clubs?" Con- 
nelly asks Kase. 

"The Union and Union League, 1 am in- 
formed by the nephew." 

"Good!" commented Connelly, which 
meant that he had instructed Johnson cor- 
rectly. Then turning to Kase, he grave final 
instructions to him in this wise: "Go into the 
house, get a complete talk with the nephew. 
Ask particularly between what acts of the 
play he left the theatre. Then jump into a 
cab and get to the office." 

"Now, youngster," he said to me, "get into 
my carriage. Go first to the Union Square 
theatre: rouse the watchman by ringing the 
bell at the stage entrance on Fourth avenue. 
Ascertain precisely when the curtain fell at 
the end of each act, and the length of each 
intermission. Look over the crowd in the 
hotel at the Broadway corner, where you'll 
find some member of the Union Square com- 
pany. Ask if anybody saw young Hawkins 
in the playhouse, or saw him leave it! Re- 
member, nothing that serves to corroborate 
or to discredit George Hawkins's statement 



T 



len. 



drive to 



is too trivial to mention, 
the office." 

Connelly then re-enters the house of the 
crime. Coroner has not arrived; body lies 
where discovered. The reporter has already 
identified the lace. He begins a search of the 
Moor. Carpet is moquette of dull brownish 
.shade. With his hands. Connelly feels every 



inch of the floor covering. Ah! inside the 
sliding-doors, in the dining-room, is a damp 
spot! Blood! The body was moved after 
death! Why.' Obviously, so that it may be 
seen by the first person to enter the front door. 
Would a murderer, fearing interruption, do 
so foolhardy an act ? Isn't it rather the act 
of a person who knew members of the family 
to be absent and wanted the crime discovered ? 
And. where is the banker's hat ? The butler 
points to it. hanging in the hall. In a moment 
Connelly knows that in addition to the body 
being moved from the dining-room to the 
drawing salon the banker's hat has been hune 
upon the rack after the crime. Its binding 
upon one side is red with blood: it has rolled 
across an ensanguined spot! Yes. and an- 
other discovery: the lock of the front door 
has been "thrown off" by bloody fingers! 
Why should this murderer wish to leave the 
door unlocked unless to create the theory that 
a night prowler, a human vulture without 
home or purpose, had wandered into the 
banker's house, been surprised and had com- 
mitted murder to escape? 

Mr. Connelly keeps his own counsel: he 
has discovered all these mysteries in eleven 
precious minutes. He is working against 
time. He is not a "detective" but a news 
gatherer! 

Mr. Kase reappears from upstairs with 
notes of an interview with George Hawkins. 
nephew. The statement is full, clear and ex- 
plicit. The young man was at the Union 
Square theatre to see Charley Thome's latest 
play, accompanied by his cousin. Miss Haw- 
kins, daughter of the deceased banker. Be- 
tween the second and third acts, he had gone 
around the corner of Broadway to 'The 
Shakespeare" for a drink, and while there 
had spoken to Henry James, Barry Montres- 
sor, Sam. ( 'aruthers 

"Caruthers is 'in the box' at Wallaek's 
theatre and lives at the big red brick hotel, 
the New York. Stop there on your way down. 
If you don't find him in the bar-room, go 
right up to his room and rout him out. It'll 
be all right. Ask him what young Hawkins 
said to him when they met in 'The Shakes- 
peare." but don't give him a hint about this 
crime." 



THE BOOK of XFW YORK 



33 



Indications point to the nephew as the mur- 
derer! Connelly thinks so, and when he 
reaches the office at 1.30 o'clock (having 
written 1,500 words in the library of the dead 
man until a reporter arrived to relieve him), 
he has facts sufficient to hint at that belief; 
lint he dodges the libel law by defending the 
accused in an artful way. lie feels safe, for 
these reasons : 

1. — What Chambers learned: At the thea- 
tre: That the second act of the play ended at 
9.40: the interval was eighteen minutes, ow- 
ing to an elaborate boxed-in scene that had 
to be set. Time. !).4<) to 9.58! Had met actor 
Leonard, in the cast, who assured the reporter 
that he knew young Hawkins and had dis- 
tinctly seen him "in front."' Fortunately, 
Leonard had stopped Robert Horn, ticket- 
taker at the Union Square theatre, who knows 
Hawkins and says he went out at the end of 
the second act hut did not return until middle 
of the third act, being absent fully forty-five 
minutes! Positively cannot be mistaken. 

2. — What Johnson learned: That banker 
Hawkins had dined and passed the evening 
at the Union Club. Fifth avenue and Twenty- 
first street. He had left his bank at 4 o'clock, 
walked as far north on Broadway as the 
Astor House with his partner. Radish. There 
they had a pint of champagne, because Haw- 
kins appeared greatly worried. No: couldn't 
have been about business. Radish thinks it 
concerned the marriage of his daughter to 
her cousin. George, of whose habits the old 
man did not approve. Radish returned to 
Wall street, because he had forgotten to lock 
up a bundle of bonds left in his desk, first 
seeing Hawkins enter a cab for his club. 
There he dined, played a few rubbers of whist 
until 

"Now. be explicit!" interrupted Connelly, 
driving his pencil and listening meanwhile. 

Well, the doorman of the Union remembers 
that old man Hawkins passed out as the clock 
chimed half-past nine. How does he fi\ the 
tinier Because his relief was due at !). hadn't 
arrived and he was. literally, watching the 
clock. His relief didn't conic at all. so still 
on duty. Much more important was a state- 
ment by John Brandon, fellow --clubman, who 
encountered the deceased stumbling along the 



western pavement of the avenue, bound south- 
ward. He was in a preoccupied manner; 
didn't speak to Brandon. This was the last 
sight of Hawkins alive! 

"Going home to be killed!" commented 
Connelly. "Actually seeking Fate!" 

.'?. — What Kase learned: That Caruthers 
remembered George Hawkins entering "The 
Shakespeare" saloon. His manner was hur- 
ried. First glancing 'round the place, as if 
looking for a clock but not finding one, had 
drawn his watch and said: "Why, it's a quar- 
ter to ten! Hello, Sam; come take some- 
thing." When Caruthers declined. Hawkins 
appeared to have forgotten about the drink 
and left abruptly. He had not said he was 
at the theatre; but looked warm and excited. 
A few moments later. Caruthers had occasion 
to glance at his own watch and found the real 
time to be half-past ten instead of a quarter 
to that hour. Caruthers had not returned to 
the box-office that night, but left his assistant 
in charge after "counting out." 

Star-reporter Connelly has heard the 
nephew's statement from Kase and knows 
that the banker's daughter is prostrated,— 
either with grief or by a suspicion of the iden- 
tity of the murderer. He lias a mental pic- 
ture of the interior of the Fifth avenue man- 
sion and has before him a proof of the dia- 
gram showing the arrangement of the rooms 
and the two places in which the body of the 
dead man lav. The Index bureau has done 
its part and re-writers have supplied two col- 
umns of an obituary, and a catalogue of the 
corporations with which the dead banker was 
associated. The eight and a quarter column 
account of the crime comes together into one 
harmonious whole, as if written by a single 
hand : 

Statemenl "I crime; who victim is; commercial gravity of bis 
sudden death. >< 'opj reader, | col. I 

Narrative •>! crime's discovery, in words of Hawkins, Jr. (Kase, 
1 col.) 

Description of interior of house, l" accompany diagram. Kase, 
] col.) 

Exploration "I parlor-floor; discoveries, deductions. (Connelly, 
I J cols.) 

How Hawkins came up-town, omitting Radish's reference to 
troubled mind. (Johnson, , ; col.) 

Ai Union Club; who saw him and precise momenl of leaving. 
i Johnson, ]■ col.) 

Lasl sighl of deceased bj Brandon. (Johnson, ', col.) 

Whal probablj occurred in house, based "ii theories "i detectives 



34 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



and Connelly's own discoveries. Could assassin have entered at 
request of victim? (Connelly, \ col.) 

Young Hawkins at theatre, statements of people who saw him. 
(Connelly, \ col 

Here Radish statement about worry and engagement of young 
people. << ' Ilv. , : col. I 

History of Hawkins's career and vast enterprises. (Index and 

oilier. 2 cols.) 

Famous murder rases of the past. (Index, ' col.) 

Thus the paper went to press at half-pasl 
two with a nine-column account of the mur- 
der (including the head), written and com- 
piled by seven artisans, no breaks, no con- 
fusion. 

In a second edition, the arrest of the nephew 
by Superintendent Kelso was announced; 
heading and opening paragraph being changed 
to chronicle the very startling fact. Young 
Hawkins had strolled over to Fifth avenue, 
during absence from the theatre, had acci- 



dentally encountered his uncle, and had been 
asked to walk the four short blocks with his 
prospective father-in-law. Entering, at the 
elder man's request, George had seen the 
bludgeon and was seized with an uncontrol- 
lable impulse to kill the old man and thus 
silence opposition to the marriage. After the 
blow, he dragged the body where it would be 
seen, hurried back to the theatre, stopping at 
'The Shakespeare" to create an alibi, — the 
act that first directed suspicion toward him. 

I had been entrusted with little, because of 
inexperience; but I had learned much that 
night. Mr. Connelly said a few encouraging 
words as he rapidly ran over the wet proofs. 
Then he put on his coat and hat, lit a cigar 
and bade us "Good morning!" 




THE HOOK of NEW V()I{K 



.'J;j 



CHAPTER III 



BUSIEST YEAB OF MY LIFE 




jX MANY respects, the year 
1872 was the most active 1 
have known: it assuredly sup- 
plied more varied experiences 
than any other. A severe cold, 
contracted during- the winter, 
had left me, in the Spring, with 
symptoms of pulmonary trouble: physicians 
told me a Summer in the woods, close to 
Nature, was imperative. While at Washing- 
ton, in January, I had examined all records 
of research at the sources of the Mississippi, 
therefore I decided to spend my outing upon 
the great river. I ordered a Baden-Powell 
canoe from Waters, of Troy, and set out for 
Minnesota, in May. That long voyage, by 
canoe and steamer, from Elk lake to South 
West Pass, is recorded in a large volume.* 
At Saint Louis, I was introduced to Joseph 
Pulitzer by a card from Carl Schurz. This 
young man. afterwards the pioneer of a dis- 
tinctive school of American journalism and 
whose Managing Editor in New York 1 was 
afterwards to become, was then 23 years old 
and city editor of the Westliche Post, a Ger- 
man newspaper. 

On my return to New York, in August. 1 
was asked to undertake the hazardous task of 
exploring a private mad-house. 1 knew noth- 
ing of the risks entailed; but. securing admis- 
sion to Bloomingdale asylum, I remained there 
a fortnight. My personal counsel was John 
D. Townsend. a faithful friend, who procured 
my release on habeas corpus. This experience, 
also, has been fully recounted in "A Mad 
World and Its Inhabitants." r ll was my last 
notable work for the Tribune; hut because it 
subsequently brought to me an offer from Mr. 
Bennett, of the Herald, a promised reward 
never was paid to me, and my letter of resig- 
nation was not accepted because I was going 

"The Mississippi and Its Wonderful Valley," <i. I'. Putnam's 

~-Mii-, New York .-Hid London. 11110. 



to another newspaper. The work of rescue 
(I secured the release of twelve sane patients i 
received the commendation of Charles Reade, 
the English novelist. His "Very Hard Cash" 
had for leading motif the unlawful detention 
of its hero in a private asylum for the insane. 
During a subsequent visit to London I was 
invited to the Reade home at Kniffhtsbridffe, 
with its rear on Rotten Row, Hyde Lark. The 
breakfasts and luncheons were very enjoyable. 
Mr. Reade hated many of the features of mod- 
ern life. He spoke with sorrow of his failure 
to gain admission to a certain club, although 
Collins had proposed him and Dickens had 
seconded his nomination. Gas was not used 
at that social organization! He added, with 
a sigh: "1 do like to read by a good sperm 
candle.'* He was a terrific tea drinker. Mrs. 
Seymour, who always poured tea. was the 
charm of that house. The platonic relation 
of those two people never was questioned by 
their friends. The tact of this handsome, 
prematurely white-haired woman was delight- 
ful. During one of my visits. Mr. Reade 
showed to me the ingenious methods by which 
he "'evolved" or composed his plots by shift- 
ing a series of large cards upon which were 
written catch words or brief scenes and dia- 
logue. 

I made a tour through former New England 
whaling ports that Fall, but was fold, "in 
mournful numbers." that flic romance of 
whaling had come to an end. Reference was 
not had to the private schools in which the 
birch is still used but to the time-honored 
search for whale oil. The leviathans of the 

t "A .Mad World and Its Inhabitants," Sampson Low. Marston, 
Searl & Rivington, London, ts'IO; I). Appleton & • o., New York, 
is;:. 

A month after the publication of my articles, I received the fol- 
lowing letter: "Albert Terrace, Knightsbridge, London. Dear Sir: 
Your's i- the way to work. A greal battle is not to be won without 

self sacrifice. Accept a tribute of respect fr a brother writer in- 

terested in the same good cause, and may Heaven prosper your 
efforts. 1 am. sir, Your very faithful servant, Charles fli w» ." 



36 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



(lc<'|) have been driven out of business as 
articles of commerce, by the petroleum dis- 
coveries of the past fifty years. "Oil that 
will burn in lamps" had been found deep 
down in the bosom of Mother Earth and a 
few men got eon t nil of it. 

At Xew Bedford and in other harbors of 
New England, one saw old whaling ships of 
the prosperous days of America's supremacy 
upon the sea. going to rot, because whale oil 
had become a thing of the past. Electricity 
has since contributed its part to the relief 
from persecution that the whale had suffered 
from the earliest days in which men went to 
sea in ships. However grateful this change to 
the largest of aquatic mammals, a splendid 
and romantic industry that gave vigor and 
romance to such polls as Gloucester, Salem 
and Xew Bedford has ceased to exist. 

Naturally, most of us who lament destruc- 
tion of life of any kind are with the whale! 
Such is the thought in the mind of the writer. 
Much as he may deplore the rise of a mon- 
opoly that makes the need for whale oil in- 
significant, and, as a consequence, the search 
for it hardly necessary, there is a bond of 
sympathy between any man who has to 
struggle for the right of existence and the 
whale, — a creature that only wants to be let 
alone in harmless pursuit of happiness and 
subsistence. 

We are confidently assured that the days of 
whale hunting are gone! Are we not to have 
any more of those marvelous tales of the sea. 
in which the catching of whales has played 
so large a part ? Heaven forbid that this new 
inhibition should be placed upon the already 
narrowing horizon of earthly joys! Long ago 
the buccaneer of fiction was taken from us. 
Then came "Bmffalo Bill" and ravished us of 
the bison of the plains and of the Indian, wait- 
ing for an opportunity to die to make a good 
story. Now. alas, we are to lose the whale! 

The memorable local incident of the Novem- 
ber election of that year was witnessing the 
final appearance of William M. Tweed before 
a political assembly. A stand had been erected 
in the small triangular plaza at East Broadway 
and ('anal street. The Shanley Association 
occupied a building facing the platform on 
the first-named thoroughfare. Its windows 



were aglow 



with light and its roof sprouted 
like a portuhtca garden, with rockets and balls 
of colored fires. I had a seat on the platform 
with half a dozen other reporters. There was 
a large gathering, made up of the previously 
cowed ami tractable population of the locality. 
That night, however, there were mutterings 
among that standing audience that ought to 
have been ominous of trouble. But had not 
'The Great Boss" asked, only a (c\v weeks 
earlier, "What are von going to do about it?" 
—meaning the stealing of the city's money. 

The presiding officer, a local tool of the 
King, spoke a few moments and then intro- 
duced "the captain of us all." Tweed came 
forward from the back of the stage and hap- 
pened to stand on my side of the platform. 
not one foot away. There was some cheering. 
1 mt it was mostly from the stand and a claque 
that had gathered directly in front, where the 
Boss could see its members. Tweed had a 
naturally melodious voice and handled it well. 
My eyes were fastened upon that flabby face 
as it overtopped me. The eves sparkled like 
a serpent's with malice and indifference. His 
first act was to place the thumb and fingers 
of his left hand upon the counter before him. 
His right hand was thrust into the bosom of 
his vest. He straightened himself into a posi- 
tion of self-assumed dignity, smiled again. 
bowed to thi' presiding officer and began: 

''My Fellow Citizens, I am proud to be here 
to-night and to see that the outburst of calumny 
sweeping over this city has not caused you to 
lose confidence in your real friends. I am a 
proud man to know that you still believe in 
my integrity 

From the crowd came hisses and cat calls. 
A moment later, a burly chap, not ten feet 
from the platform, shouted: "Jail for you, 
old thief!" He then drew from his blouse a 
cabbage and hurled it at the speaker, missing 
him. Tweed actually smiled. Raising his 
light arm with the hand open, a favorite ges- 
ture, Tweed good-humoredly said: "Don't 
be rude, my friend. If you're in need of a 
job, I'll see you get one." 

At that moment, somebody threw a potato 
that struck Tweed squarely on the chest and 
burst, pieces of the vegetable falling upon the 
reporters' table. The "Boss" was of such 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



:;? 



enormous hulk that he was not staggered; hut 
lie lost his temper and shouted: 

■■'There are blackguards among you, ene- 
mies of the honest and upright administration 
that now rules this city 

These were the last words "■Ross" Tweed 
ever uttered in public, until he rose to plead 
to the indictment framed by Samuel J. Tilden 
and Charles O'Conor charging him with com- 
mon, or uncommon, thieving. Quicker than 
it can be written, garbage, refuse, stones, 
sticks and cans were pouring upon that plat- 
form. Lanterns were broken and the place 
was in darkness. Swearing like a baffled 
pirate Rill Tweed was helped down the steps. 
He had a cab waiting at the nearest corner in 
Canal street, hut the mob followed him, jeer- 
ing and insulting him. When the big man 
tried to get into the vehicle, the crowd attacked 
it and broke everything that was perishable. A 
trace was cut. Tweed got out, and was hur- 
ried across the street by a policeman. He took 
refuge in a private house. A platoon of police 
arrived and formed in front of the discredited 
"boss's" refuge. It was easy to see that the 
policemen had no sympathy with the man, 
but had it not been for the presence of that 
posse, Tweed would have been killed that 
night by men who had been cheering for him 
when the campaign began a week before! A 
remarkable revulsion of sentiment had oc- 
curred. 

Within five minutes, not one board of the 
stand remained in place. Urchins were carry- 
ing away some of them and other people, less 
frugal, formed a heap of the debris and lighted 
a bonfire! It was a far more savage demon- 
stration than I had witnessed a year before in 
the square behind Brooklyn Navy Yard when 
a meeting in advocacy of the removal of the 
naval station to another city was broken up. 

Tweed was indicted in two hundred counts 
before Christmas and in January. 1873, Ly- 
man Tremain and Wheeler H. Peckham 
brought him to trial. I was in the court on 
many occasions under special orders to gel 
interviews or work up features developed by 
the testimony. Especially was I present (then 
serving the Herald) when Judge Davis closed 
his charge, and 1 had every opportunity to 
observe Tweed after the jury had filed out. I [e 



entertained such contempt for public opinion 

that he did not appear to fear disaster, yet he 
was within twenty-four hours of the end of 
personal liberty, — if I except the brief period 
of his flight as a fugitive from justice! A re- 
markable fact was his utter lack of competent 
legal advice! The offences with which he was 
charged were only misdemeanors; he was on 
moderate Kail and after the jury retired, he 
could have crossed over to New Jersey where 
he would have been safe in the event of an 
adverse verdict. No requisition upon the 
Governor of that state would have been recog- 
nized for the offence for which he was con- 
victed. Henry L. Clinton afterwards told me 
that Tweed was advised to do this very thing, 
but he laughingly retorted: " Don't worry 
about me; I'm all right!" I have been as- 
sured by a man close to Tweed that he had 
paid a large sum to "fix" one of the jurors. 
If so, some scoundrel cheated Tweed and kept 
the money. Next day. I saw- the jury return 
and heard the verdict: "Guilty!" Tweed 
was present. He turned ghastly pale, from 
astonishment rather than fright. He was a 
convict and a prisoner! A man who for years 
had wielded more absolute power than half 
the monarchs of Europe collapsed into a vul- 
gar crook! I watched particularly to see who 
would approach to condole with him. Harry 
Genet was the only one; and although mat- 
ters went very harshly with Genet, when he 
was subsequently tried and convicted. I al- 
ways harbored a kind thought of what was a1 
the time a gallant, as well as courageous, act. 
It was much like Ruy Lopez whispering the 
solution of a difficult chess problem to Don 
Guzman, Prince of Caltrava, as the latter was 
mounting the scaffold ! 

Assistant District Attorney Allen had sug- 
gested to his colleagues of the prosecution the 
possibility of a cumulative sentence, and Judge 
Davis, taking the Tichborne case as a prece- 
dent, and after hearing elaborate argument, 
ruled that the court had power to inflict such 
punishment. Tweed was convicted on two 
hundred and four counts for '"neglect of duty, 
as a member of the Hoard of Audit, in respect 
to claim-, against the county of New York." 
Judge Davis sentenced Tweed to one year's 
imprisonment, successively, on each of twelve 



38 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



counts. ;i fine of $250, on each in addition, and 
upon other counts to additional fines bringing 
the total to $12,500. It was a staggering blow! 
After Tweed had escaped, been recaptured 

and had served a year at BlackwelPs Island 
and paid his first fine of $250, the question of 
the legality of the continuous sentence imposed 
by Judge Davis was attacked by lawyers in 
Tweed's interest. A habeas corpus was set 
aside by the Supreme Court at General Term. 
but when the appeal was carried to the high- 
est court of the State that tribunal (June, 
1875) decided unanimously that all the sen- 
tences, except one year's imprisonment and 
one fine, were illegal.* 

This brought forth one of the most remark- 
able letters from the late Charles O'Conor ever 
written in criticism of the Court of Appeals. 
Only four years ago, a President of the United 
States east reflections upon the Supreme Court 
of the United States; but had he known of or 
had read the letter of O'Conor to Judge Noah 
Davis, dated June 30, 1875, he would have 
felt at liberty to go as far as he liked in criti- 
cism. While Tweed was on BlackwelPs 
Island, new suits charging him with obtaining 
city money by means of a fraudulent issue of 
$6,000,000 Audit Bonds were instituted against 
him and on his discharge after the Court of 
Appeals' decision, he was immediately re-ar- 
rested and lodged in Ludlow street jail, his 
bail being fixed at $3.(1(10.000. On Dec. 4, 
1875. Tweed left the jail in company with 
three of the Sheriff's deputies, drove to the 
house his family occupied (on the east side of 
Madison avenue, near Sixtieth street) and 
dined there. After Tweed had seated the 
deputies, he excused himself, saying he wished 
to talk with his family. After the dinner, the 
officers began to look for their prisoner. He 
was gone! The escape was a sensation! After 
hiding in New York for several weeks, Tweed 
went to Santiago de ( 'uha, where he was recog- 
nized and threatened with blackmail. Thence, 
he slipped away on a sailing vessel to Vigo, 
Spain, where the authorities were watching 
for him. He was arrested the moment he 
arrived and spent several weeks in the Vigo 
fortress, where he was not permitted to see 
anybody. This was in July, 1 S 7 ( ! . 

* Readers curious to look up this opinion will find il in (ill New- 
York Reports, page 5.5!», Case of People ex rel. Tweed vs. Liscomb. 



A curious story exists of his stay, incom- 
municado, in that fort. He could not talk 
with the Spanish prisoners, because of his 
ignorance of their language; but for diversion, 
he made a set of paper dominos, with which 
he played games. When Tweed was returned 
to this country, his yellow-paper dominos were 
sent to the Secret Service Bureau of the United 
States Treasury for decipherment, a theory 
being that they were a code by which he com- 
municated with his former colleagues in New 
York. The extradition treaty with Spain did 
not cover Tweed's case; but General Caleb 
dishing, the American .Minister, was suffi- 
ciently potential to have the "Boss" sent back 
to the city he had robbed. He died in Ludlow 
street jail on April 12, 1878. I have anticipated 
time in relation to Tweed, because I wished to 
dispose of him. But. arch "grafter" as he 
was. it is impossible for the New Yorker of 
to-day to drive along the Riverside, more beau- 
tiful than the famed Cornice road that skirts 
the blue Mediterranean from Marseilles to 
Genoa, and not to remember that it was 
Tweed's idea! He did more for the embel- 
lishment of Central Park as we know it to-day 
than anybody who has come after him. The 
straightening of Broadway, mentioned earlier 
in this book, was another claim made upon 
posterity. His misfortune, from a "grafter's" 
viewpoint, was that he was ignorant of a sys- 
tem for getting the money of other people, 
utilized two decades later by cleverer men. 

One Saturday night (Nov. 8, 1872), as we 
were going home, a large fire was reported in 
Boston, but not until the following day did 
the serious character of the conflagration be- 
come apparent. The way in which the news 
was handled is interesting as showing the 
value of a resourceful man like City Editor 
Shanks, who had succeeded Mr. Moore. 

It was a beautiful Sunday morning when 
all New York learned that Boston, the pride 
of the nation and the cradle of American lib- 
erty, was in flames. Sunday morning journals 
of the metropolis contained reports of a dis- 
astrous conflagration. But it was not until 
church time of this charming day — a day so 
beautiful that every newspaper man then in 
harness remembers it well, — that the appalling 
character of the calamity w r as learned. The 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



39 



fire burned all of that Sunday. Each New 
York journal sent its best correspondents to 
the crumbling city. Arriving, they found the 
telegraph service utterly disabled. No matter 
how cleverly they described the ravages of the 
names, their despatches could not be sent. 

In New York, anxiety in every newspaper 
office was maddening. Every Managing Edi- 
tor was asking himself, "Who will have the 
best report on .Monday morning?" There was 
no disputing the universal interest in the dis- 
aster. Every mercantile firm that sold goods 
to Boston was vitally interested, and the in- 
surance companies of this city could realize 
that dividends for years to come were going 
up in flame and smoke. 

Besides, a deeply rooted sentimental regard 
for Boston existed in every household of the 
New World. Chicago had well-nigh suffered 
obliteration the year before. Now the curse 
had passed to Boston! "Do we come next?" 
thought every New Yorker. The primal idea 
was that a city sacred to the American heart 
was doomed. The eastern part of the Conti- 
nent responded. Fire bells were rung in every 
town between Portland and Providence. Spe- 
cial trains carried fire engines from Albany 
and Hartford. 

The whole country awaited news of Boston's 
fate. Preachers spoke of the impending blight 
in their Sunday sermons: Beecher, with tears 
in his eyes, lamented the fate of the doomed 
city. People stood in groups on the streets of 
every American town solemnly discussing in 
whispers an impending national calamity. 
Must they give up the old State House, Fall- 
en i I Hall, the "old South Church," State street. 
in which occurred the "massacre," Christ 
Church, from the spire of which glittered the 
lantern that Paul Revere saw, and, seeing, 
"galloped off into the night to summon Amer- 
ica.-" These buildings and streets were not 
treasures of Boston alone: she was only their 
custodian! They belonged to the whole coun- 
try. All were menaced ! The ground on which 
stood the birthplace of Franklin, the church 
of Channmg, the famous Roman Catholic 
cathedral had already been swept by the 
flames. 

Who could do justice to such a theme in a 
newspaper article? But, conceding every 



capacity in the human mind to describe wliat 
he saw, who could gel his written matter 
through to New York when the wires were 
down? Ah! it is one thing to gather news 
and another to get it printed ! 

From a commercial viewpoint the informa- 
tion most desired was a list of the business 
firms destroyed. To get that seemed utterly 
hopeless, until the managing editor of the 
Tribune put his mind to the problem. He 
readily solved it. By nightfall of Sunday, 
the limits of the fire had been accurately as- 
certained to lie Summer, Washington, Milk, 
Broad and State streets. The entire city staff, 
thirty men in all. were summoned and sat at 
their desks. Boston was two hundred and 
fifty-six miles away! 

A large map lay upon the managing-editor's 
desk. With a red pencil, the fire area was 
outlined. A list of the streets and parts of 
streets destroyed was easily prepared. Two 
men expert in the use of a city directory and 
acquainted with Boston were able to decide 
what numbers the houses bore in each of the 
destroyed thoroughfares. Every one of my 
readers who has had occasion to consult the 
street index at the back of our New York 
directory will comprehend the method. 

The fire was confined to the business por- 
tion of the city, therefore the harrow inn- scenes 
common to burning tenements or dwellings, 
with thrilling rescues of women and children, 
were not present. Loss of life was small hut 
loss of property was enormous! Every New 
Yorker who did business with Boston was in- 
terested in pocket ! 

The latest Boston business directory had 
been obtained at an express office by the rank 
bribery of a night watchman. The precious 
volume was torn into thirty equal sections 
and apportioned among as many reporters. 
On long thoroughfares, like Washington sheet. 
although they extended far beyond the fire 
limits, it was easy to select the houses in the 
bumed section. But the really artistic work 
was done on streets burned only on one side; 
it is quite easy to locale, from a directory and 
with the aid of a map. the side of the street on 
which are the odd and the even numbers. 
For example, only one side of Stale street was 
burned: it was quite easy to pick out from 



40 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



the directory the names of the banks, insur- 
ance offices and lawyers that lined the burned 
side of that thoroughfare. 

A complete list of streets inside the fire-area 
was set ii|) and a proof slip furnished to each 
man. They may have read like tins: 

Juniper street, from No. 281 I" 342. Both ^i<l<>. 
Puritan street, even numbers only, from No. si to 126. 
State street, odd numbers only, from 1!> to 97. 
Devonshire street, <>dd numbers, 353 to 071; and so on. 

With these proof-slips before him, each man 
went through his ten leaves of the directory 
and selected all names and occupations on any 
of the prescribed streets, within and including 
the numbers set down. There were forty 
thoroughfares more or less injured. Alert re- 
porters placed a blue cross before each name 
as they detected it by its tell-tale address. 
These pages went direct to the printers, who 
set only the names that had the Morgiana's 
cross upon them! Then the sheets were re- 
turned to the reporters who marked with a 
red cross any new names to he added owing 
to a. spread of the conflagration. 

Classification by trades was necessarily al- 
phabetical, because arranged by the directory: 
ami under each business subdivision the list 
of names was likewise alphabetical, therefore 
ready of access. Excepting in cases where 
firms had failed or moved since the publica- 
tion of the directory, there were no errors! 
This list of commercial sufferers as prepared 
in New York was more accurate than could 
have been compiled in Boston amid attendant 
excitement. It made a whole page of valuable 
information. It was a Managing-Editor's 
nighl ! 

One cold night, in December, 1872, I en- 
countered Cesar Celso Mareno, an adven- 
turous Italian, who gave to me the first ex- 
posure of the padroni system as practiced in 
New York. 1 wrote the first article on the 
subject and brought the matter to the atten- 
tion of the Emigration Commissioners. For 
a time, the importation of Italian children as 
musicians and flower sellers was checked: but 
those were the days of the "Do-Nothing Presi- 
dents of the United Stales" and the infamous 
h-ufric was ere long resumed. 

.Vol having any Napoleons to isolate, the 
British Government recently decided to with- 



draw the detachment of troops that had gar- 
risoned thi' lonely, desolate island of St. Helena 
for nearly a century. This announcement re- 
calls an incident of the period with which I 
am now dealing: 

A newspaper associate, MacKnight, broke 
down physically from overwork. Physicians 
agreed he had brain fag and insomnia, attend- 
ed by other disorders that are supposed to 
bridge the gulf from neurasthenia to violent 
mania. Best was imperative! He must culti- 
vate lassitude. The St. Helena consulship was 
suggested, and General Grant, then President, 
who had known MacKnight's father during 
*'the cru-el war," appointed him to the post. 
MacKnight came to me for congratulations and 
received them. In effect, I told him if St. 
Helena was the kind of a place he was seek- 
ing, it was just the sort of an island for him. 
Ascension, the nearest land, was TOO miles 
distant. It was 1,200 miles to Africa, by 
grapevine telegraph, and 1,800 to Brazil by 
the most direct pilot-fish route. The news- 
papers at Nemguela, South Guinea, were not 
sensational. A ship from Pernambuco might 
touch once a year with a few newspapers, 
printed in bad Portuguese. He'd find a real 
rest cure there. 

Four years later, to a week. I was City Editor 
of the Herald. One afternoon a tall figure of 
a man darkened the door. His visage was 
antagonistic — like that of an angry husband 
of a soubrette whose name had not been men- 
tioned among the leading characters in a first 
night's performance. Had I ever seen him 
before? 1 didn't like his appearance, and 
was about to tell him that 1 was only the 
office boy, occupying the city editor's chair 
while that person was at luncheon. Heaven 
be praised, it was Henry MacKnight! He was 
back and looking for a job! He was "cured" 
of desire for isolation. But he had returned, 
alive, a fact that appeared to astonish him 
more than me. 

'Phe unfortunate Napoleon had lasted at St. 
Helena almost six years ( 1 S 1 .5 to 1821), but 
MacKnight "could not understand how the old 
man stood it so long." Four years and six 
months were enough for any reasonable mor- 
tal — one who had only ten or a dozen mental 
troubles to wrestle with. Managing editors 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



41 



who reach a mental stage when they have to 
sit in corners of darkened rooms for hours 
daily, cutting paper dolls, might find St. Hele- 
na's "silence treatment" salutary; but for an 
ordinary "star" reporter, such as lie had Keen 
classified, four and a half revolutions of the 
earth 'round the sun were ample. 1 heard a 
storv of exile, compared with which Alexander 
Selkirk's marooning on Juan Fernandez (dis- 
guised by Defoe under the title of "Robinson 
Crusoe") is airy persiflage. Two years' pay 
had keen consumed in getting himself and wife 
to Jamestown. MacKnight didn't sleep any 
better, although the silence on the island was 
of a sort one could literally feel. He soon 
longed for the clank of a street car or the 
noise of a morning milk cart "rattling o'er the 
stony streets." lie wanted little old New York 
as child never wanted a mother. That's why 
he returned. 

An episode associated with the defeat of the 
Orton-Colfax crowd, who tried to buy the 
Tribune after Greeley's death and to oust 
Whitelaw Reid, is a dinner given by the tri- 
umphant managing editor at Delmonico's on 
the night of December 28, 1872. Although 
the name of his financial backer was unknown 
at the time. Jay Gould had furnished the 
money to buy the paper. The dinner was an 
interesting affair. The two Greeley girls were 
there. Also, William Winter, I. N. Ford, J. 
B. Bishop and Greeley's brother-in-law, Cleve- 
land. Kate Field, of jolly memory, sat near 
to me and directly opposite was John Hay. 
"Jim Bludsoe" had been printed, inconspicu- 
ously, on an inside page of the newspaper to 
which we were all allied; but on that night 
Hay recited "The Mystery of Gilgal," and on 
a recall gave "Little Breeches." 1 recall, 
likewise, Henry F. Keenan. afterwards the 
author of "The Money Makers, a Si>cial 
Problem," which completely estranged him 
from John Hay, because the latter though! an 
incident therein referred to the death of his 



father-in-law, Ainasa Stone. During this 
period of Mr. Hay's editorial work on the 
Tribune, he wrote a quarter column one night 
that made talk in every part of this country. 
It was entitled " Did We Escape a Napoleon ?" 
He briefly sketched the career of Col. Ells- 
worth, shot at a hotel in Alexandria while 
removing a Confederate flag. Hay described 
the marvellous popularity and personal mag- 
netism of that young New Englander, who 
came to New York a stranger and raised a 
regiment of Zouaves in three weeks. 

It is impossible for me to pass through West 
Forty-fifth street between Fifth and Sixth 
avenues, without having strange recollections 
awakened. Horace Greeley was buried from 
a narrow, cream-colored house in the middle 
of the block, on the north side. The body was 
taken from the dwelling of Samuel Sinclair, 
then publisher of the Tribune, to Dr. Chapin's 
church, at the lower corner of the avenue, 
where a jeweler's shop is to-day. At the serv- 
ice, Clara Louise Kellogg sang "I Know That 
My Redeemer Liveth." 

In the same block dwelt George Wilkes, who 
more narrowly escaped being a great man than 
any one of his New York contemporaries. He 
also had a Hue bachelor's apartment in Twenty- 
first street, three doors east of Broadway, 
where I used to visit him. 

Forty-fifth street was far uptown. New 
York and New Haven trains were drawn by 
horses, one car at a time, along Fourth avenue, 
from the station at Twenty-seventh street 
(where until recently stood the Madison Square 
Garden), to an open road at Forty-second 
street. There trains were made up. There 
wasn't any Madison avenue line. John Foley, 
of gold-pen fame, organized that later. Nearly 
all the country between Fiftieth street and 
Yorkville was open land. Not all streets were 
opened; where they were graded and sewered, 
vast holes indicated the squares, utilized as 
skating ponds during winter. 



4^2 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER IV 



A CHANGE OF HASH 




JHE year 1873 bad opened au- 
spiciously for inc. An offer 
from the Herald, made in the 
midst of work on the Bloom- 
ingdale expose and condition- 
ally declined, for the reason 
that 1 could not honorably 
leave a task incompleted, was renewed. It 
had originally come from Mr. Bennett, per- 
sonally, who had appreciated my position, and 
upon his return from Europe in the last week 
of January. 1873, I received an invitation, 
written upon one of his cards, to call upon 
him. I did so and was engaged. Earlier in 
this narrative, I have recounted the treatment 
received from my original employer when the 
announcement was made to him. The inci- 
dent was not of importance hut my young 
feelings were sorely hurt. 

A remarkable man. about my age. joined 
the Herald's city staff from the Sun the same 
week. Albert Pulitzer. He was a handsome 
chap, and destined to create a wholly new 
type of the American Sunday newspapers, in 
connection with the Morning .Journal. We 
hail often met on similar assignments and I 
always found him "square"; he never be- 
came popular with other Herald reporters, 
however, owing to an air of mystery given to 
his work. lie and I remained friends until 
his death, in Vienna, four years ago. 

My first out-of-town assignment was a pecu- 
liar one. The '"Credit Mobilier" scandal at 
Washington had convulsed the country. Mr. 
Oakes Ames's red note-book had destroyed 
half a hundred Congressional characters. 
Hardly had the Pennsylvania Legislature as- 
sembled, however, when two prominent mem- 
bers of that body joined in an uncalled-for and 
disgraceful attack upon tin' editor of the 
Herald, in which the name of the elder Ben- 
nett, who had died the previous Summer, was 
joined. The Herald, as the one great metro- 



politan journal of that period, had many ene- 
mies and the slanderous remarks were sent 
far and wide and much printed. My recollec- 
tion is that only one newspaper in New York 
quoted any of the language. Several decent 
members of the Pennsylvania State Senate. 
Col. A. K. McClure taking the initiative, had 
the language expunged from the records; but 
the publicity elsewhere justified a reprisal. 
One morning I received a message at my 
boarding-house from Tom Connery, manag- 
ing editor, directing me not to come to the 
office but to meet him in a room he named at 
the Astor House. His first words were: "Are 
you known to anybody at Ilarrisburg.- town 
or Legislature?" I assured him to the eon- 
trary. Then he told me the story, gave me 
the names of the two offending members of 
the Senate and said: "Go over and buy those 
men; and a few others, if they come easy! 
I leave the method entirely to you, but get 
them. You can go as far as $10.00(1 and all 
necessa ry exj >enses . ' ' 

Thus was a bill to incorporate the "Con- 
sumers' Gas Company of Pittsburg" sprung 
ten days later upon a guileless Legislature. 
hungry for "graft." I went to a friend in 
Pine street, famous for organizing companies; 
secured the text of a charter, had some excel- 
lent copies engrossed (substituting the name I 
had chosen and using three of his relatives 
who lived in the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- 
vania anil the requisite number of dummies 
(clerks) in his office, as incorporators. I was 
on the list under the name of "Arthur Pur- 
cell." When all was ready here, 1 went to 
Harrisburg, registered at the Lochiel House 
and hunted up a lobbyist. He managed the 
matter so adroitly that I was on intimate terms 
with the men "wanted" in four days. 

Events favored me. The Pennsylvania Rail- 
road had a bill before the Legislature to in- 
crease its capital stock to $100,000,000. This 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



43 



was regarded as a lot of money in those days, 
and Thos. A. Scott, who was "looking after 
things" himself, was inclined to be liberal. 
After losing a few dollars at cards with my 
new acquaintances, — not because they "out- 
drew" me but because I did not want to win, 
each man did me the honor to call at my room 
for a first payment. They got some cash, but 
I was waiting for the moment in which 1 could 
give to them checks! The lobbyist must have 
been a constant spender, because he was "tap- 
ping me" once or twice daily. A member of 
the Committee on Corporations, whom I didn't 
need, was brought in. I thought money thrown 
away on him. at the moment; but the fellow 
finally achieved my success by carrying checks 
to the two men 1 really desired. 

I had casually referred to a very sick rela- 
tive at a sanitarium in Philadelphia, and when 
the bill was ready to report. 1 received a tele- 
gram (a copy of which I had forwarded to 
the Herald correspondent in the Quaker City) 
commanding my presence. It was so timed 
that the bank in which "Arthur Purcell" kept 
his account was closed. (I had been introduced 
at the bank by my lobby-man. who was per- 
sona grata.) I drew two checks for $500 each 
to "my two coons" and one for $100 to 
the order of the committeeman. 1 hurried 
to my hotel. I had hardly begun to 
pack my grip when Mr. Committeeman 
entered. I pointed to the open telegram on 
the table and said I would return at the earli- 
est moment. lie was satisfied. Then 1 ap- 
peared to recollect the checks. I told him I 
had promised his friends (all had been together 
in the rooms and talked frankly about what 
they expected For supporting the bill) their 
money that nighl and meant to keep my word. 
1 had no recourse but to give checks to them. 
1 hoped to l»e back before the following Thurs- 
day, when tin- hill would he reported, at which 
time, if our friends didn't want to put the 
checks through, I would take them up for 
cash. Next, 1 handed to him his check, with 
which he appeared satisfied. 

1 had hired a Pittsburg lawyer to come on 
as an opponent to granting a charter to the 
"Consumers'," and his presence made my ob- 
jective men "reedier to get their money early, 
so they could be bought also by my "false- 



alarm" attorney! My checks reached their 
respective destinations. The supposititious rel- 
ative grew steadily worse for live days, until 
I was notified by wire that my checks had 
been cashed. Suspicion was disarmed at the 
bank by a fairy tale sent by mail to the cashier 
about a very costly surgical operation being 
necessary which rendered a statement of the 
amount of my cash balance imperatively de- 
sirable. My relative "passed away" that 
same afternoon and 1 reached Harrisburg at 
midnight! I "sat in" at a club-room over a 
drug-store and, I am ashamed to admit, won 
$250. One of my "friends" was there but he 
was "bucking" faro-bank: 1 didn't get any of 
his money. Next day 1 secured the cheeks 
and disappeared. 

Everything was ready, even to engraved fac- 
.similes of the checks; hut the reason that 
expose was not made is another and a separate 
story, possessing elements of pathos and hu- 
manity. Its suppression did credit to a gener- 
ally misunderstood man. The cost of the 
escapade, reduced as it was by my credit of 
$250 won at poker, amounted to $1,500. The 
charter for the "Consumers' Gas Company" 
never emerged from committee, but I had the 
men I wanted tight and fast. 

An outbreak of the aviation mania occurred 
in the Summer of 1873. Aeronauts King and 
Donaldson were much in the public prints; 
that they did not occupy a large field in the 
public eye was due to the fact that they made 
few ascents. They "promised" well, but 
their performances were moderate. Professor 
King announced that he was ready to cross 
the ocean. As flic only newspaper of cease- 
less enterprise, the Herald arranged with King- 
to take one of its correspondents with him. 

There was a clever reporter on the city stall' 
named James Coulson. Tom Connery, the 
managing editor, sent for him one day and 
said : 

" 1 want you to gel ready to leave lor Europe 1 
at 4 o'clock this afternoon. 

"How do 1 go?" asked Coulson. 

"By balloon," retorted the editor, not look- 
ing up from his desk. 

"I'll he ready." said the reporter. 

"Whal shall von want?" asked Connerv. 



44 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



"A pair of blankets and a medicine chest." 

"Correct." 

"And my return steamer fare." suggested 
Coulson. 

'That's right; here you are!" The editor 
wrote an older to the cashier! When " Jimmy" 
glanced at the memorandum, he saw it was 
good for $250. 

Returning to the city-room, Coulson selected 
a tew trusted confidants and the crowd ad- 
journed to "Tommy" Lynch's, a "sample- 
room" in the International Hotel, upon the 
present site of the Park Row building. After 
half a dozen drinks, Coulson boarded a Third 
avenue horse-car to travel as far north as 
Jones's Woods (near East river and Sixty- 
sixth street), from which point Professor King 
and his companion were to ascend. 

The air-ship was fully inflated when Coulson 
arrived. He had forgotten the blankets; what 
medical supplies lie carried were stored within 
his own anatomy. Prof. King entered the car 
and assisted the correspondent to a place by 
his side. The balloon was released and rose 
gracefully; but a strong breeze carried the big 
gas bag into a tree, the limbs of which tore a 
hole therein so large that the balloon collapsed 
and the basket, with its occupants, came to the 
ground, ingloriously. The men were unin- 
jured and the projected European trip was 
abandoned. 

Half an hour after reaching Jones's Woods, 
Coulson was on his way back to Ann street. 
The situation to him was quite appalling. He 
had $246.85, which would have to be accounted 
for. He summoned a council of experienced 
mathematicians, including Dan. Kirwin, Jerold 
McKenny, and others; when "the bill of ex- 
penses" u;is rendered there was money coming 
to Coulson. It was a masterly afternoon's work. 

One morning a policemen who had been 
leading "a double life" shot his mistress and 
himself in dingy lodgings on the upper West 
Side. Suicides make the dullest sort of read- 
ing and city editors never give them any space. 
A reporter was sent to get this "story." On 
his way to the scene, he noticed in the window 
of a shop a papier-mache figure of the Devil, 
stained red. It stood ten inches high. When 
the reporter entered the room where the two 



bodies lay upon the floor, he was conscious 
something must be done to "make a story." 
He noticed a small altar in the bed-room. He 
hurried to the stationer's, bought the "red 
devil" for a quarter, returned with it under 
his coat and, unseen by anybody, planted it 
at the top of the little shrine, before which the 
infatuated woman had been wont to kneel in 
prayer! 

When the Coroner and other reporters ar- 
rived, special attention was called to the Imp 
of Evil. The man who had placed it there 
wanted all his companions to mention the 
object, but he was sufficiently ingenious to 
make a three-column narrative of "Devil 
Worship" in the metropolis, tracing the mur- 
der and suicide to the influence of the "little 
red Satan." 

If made excellent reading and that reporter 
won a prize. Several weeks passed before the 
facts came out. 

Tammany Hall, under the reign of Boss 
John Kelly, was modest as became an organi- 
zation that needed a character. The Americus 
Club, at Greenwich, had been sold out. Mr. 
Kelly had his office in two rooms at the rear 
of 117 Nassau street and could only be seen 
by politicians at "The Hall" at certain hours. 
Years later. Richard Croker established the 
National Democratic Club on Fifth avenue, 
near Fiftieth street, having for neighbors the 
Vanderbilts, Astors, Goelets and Mills. R. 
T. Wilson, who had inherited a few millions 
made in cotton by the Confederacy but never 
claimed by it. dwelt in Tweed's old house, at 
the corner of Forty-third street and Fifth 
avenue. 

General Ryan, a tall, cadaverous Irish sol- 
dier of fortune, came to see me on July 10, 
1873, with information that the filibuster 
steamer "Virginius" had safely landed a cargo 
of arms and munitions of war on the Cuban 
coast for use of the insurgents. He gave the 
following history of the ship, which differs 
essentially from that afterward told to me by 
Caleb Cushing at Madrid. As this vessel oc- 
cupied so large a place in the history of the 
country, and her capture followed by the exe- 
cution of a 1 >otit half the crew (General Ryan 
among the latter), I reproduce the Ryan nar- 
rative: 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



15 



"The side-wheel steamer 'Virginius' was 
bought from the United States Government in 
1870. Manuel Quesada sailed on her from 
New York to Venezuela October 4th of that 
year; a cargo of arms was landed in Cuba 
the following June, after which the 'Virginius' 
returned to Colon. There she was blockaded 
for a year by a Spanish cruiser. In 1872 she 
left under convoy of the United States cor- 
vette 'Kansas. - She ran away from a Spanish 
cruiser and went to Puerto Cabello, where she- 
was blockaded by seven Spanish vessels until 
September. 1872. A bribe of .$10,000 was 
ottered the captain of the 'Virginius' to run 
her ashore but he refused." 

Then followed the Bolivar expedition, and 
the last one that so nearly involved Spain 
and the United States in war. The capture 
of the "Virginius" gave to me a winter in the 
^ est Indies and a subsequent mission to Mad- 
rid, eaeli of which furnished its full quota of 
experiences. Perhaps "adventure" were a 
better word -for everything Spanish is an ad- 
venture. 

The most amusing story of that Cuban in- 
surrectionary period belongs to New York,— 
an episode of the Comedy of Journalism: 

"1 wish you would see this man in the recep- 
tion-room and get his story," said City Editor 
Edward T. Flynn. handing to me a card heal- 
ing the name "Capitano Henrique Cantaro." 
He wants $100, and it appears worth the 
money, if verified. You must decide." 

A typical stage villain was awaiting me in 
the ante-room. He rose as I entered, placing 
a hand with noticeable caution upon a brown- 
paper parcel upon a table. 

" I'd prefer to talk to you in private," said he. 

I took him to the council-room, where we 
would not be interrupted. 

'This is better," commented the visitor, as 
we faced each other across the council-table. 
"You comprehend. I hope, that my recent life 
has involved much personal hazard, and I 
have no wish to disclose my identity?" 

'That is understood." was my reply, as I 
glanced at the card in my fingers. 

"Of course, that's not my name," the 
stranger admitted, smiling. 

"Very good; now, what's vour story?" 



"For the past veai', I have been engaged in 

t i ■ ■ i • 

delivering dynamite to the ( !uban insurgents," 
he began, like a heavy tragedian. 'The peo- 
ple I represent have shipped many tons of the 
deadly material into Cuba. Not only has it 
gone to the 'Liberating Army' in the field, 
but much has been sent to Havana, hidden in 
fruit jars, boxed as "groceries'." 
'This is interesting," I admitted. 
"We pressed the high explosive into cylin- 
ders, for the cans, or into blocks like this." 
continued the mysterious visitor, unwrapping 
the package he guarded so closely. A cube of 
inky blackness was disclosed, at which its 
owner gazed with awe. 

"Is that dynamite.-" I asked, breaking the 
silence. 

''Yes; the most deadly agent employed in 
modern warfare. It is harmless, unless sub- 
jected to shock; hut were I to drop it upon 
the floor, detonation would occur and this 
room and contents would utterly disappear. 
This building would he rended apart!" Sav- 
ing which, this strange man, obviously inured 
to danger, took up the cube ami offered it to 
me for inspection. In my hands the block had 
a greasy, crumbly feeling. I examined the 
solidified agent of death with grave caution. 

"It resembles a compressed block of coal 
dust." I commented. 

"Naturally," was the reply. "Coal dust 
and charcoal are used to give consistency to 
the dynamite, — to make it safe for transpor- 
tation. The particles of carbon furnish flame 
for the deadly explosive and add a thousand- 
fold to its destructive qualities. It might be 
possible for a half-pound of dynamite (the 
quantity absorbed into this cube) to detonate 
without setting tire to a house; but the carbon 
supplies flame that will ignite all woodwork, 
torn to splinters as it will he. We experi- 
mented for months before deciding on the 
most portable shape in which this destructive 
agent could be handled, and, rejecting all others. 
chose this form. It lends itself to many kinds 
of death. Realize how easily a hero of our 
cause can mix one of these blocks with coal 
that goes into the bunkers of a Spanish 
cruiser! " 

"Surely, you wouldn't do thai.-" I ex- 
claimed. 



4<> 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



"Why not?" in affected astonishment. 
"You recall what General Sherman said about 
war?" 

"Yes." 

"lie knew what he was talking about: we 
make it exactly what lie described it to be!" 
This was said with a scowl and a fierceness 
worthy of a pirate blood-drinker of the Span- 
ish Main. For an hour this dreadful man 
spun his yarn of deeds of desperation. He 
told how he had replaced paving stones in 
front of the Tacon theatre, Havana, with 
cubes similar to the one before me. They had 
exploded the first time a horse trod upon them. 
lie ran on, — 

" Moral effect is the result aimed at. Death 
lies in wait for the Spaniard, everywhere! 



But a friend was braver than 1; he actually 
placed two of these blocks in the court-yard 
of Captain-General Jovillar's palace, so that 
if his carriage happens to pass over the spot 
he will be blown to the four winds of — 

Suiting action to his words, "Capitano Can- 
taro" waved his left arm so vigorously as to 
sweep the cube of dynamite from the table! 

I was first upon my feet. The fall of the 
black cube had not produced even a jar! A 
small mound of coal-dust lay on the hardwood 
floor. The patriot never looked in my direc- 
tion. He moved toward the door, but there 
he halted to ask: 

"It tea.'-; a good story, wasn't it ? And cheap 
at a hundred, if I hadn't dropped that brick." 
Then he vanished. 




THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



47 



CHAPTER V 



ALERT, AT HOME AND A1MOAI) 




IOSE were the days in which 
"star" men got their assign- 
ments at noon, wrote articles 
of prescribed length, attached 
the heads and sent the "copy" 
up the pipe to the composing- 
room. Not until I became City 
Editor, in November, 1876, was there any 
eopv reading on the Herald except that done 
by the Night City Editor. J. I. C. Clarke was 
then given the job of reading city copy. 

An active reportorial existence was inter- 
rupted by the capture of the "Virginius" by 
a Spanish cruiser, the summary execution of 
her captain and twenty-odd members of the 
crew and passengers. Among the latter was 
my friend General Ryan, and I have since 
stood at the spot in Santiago de Cuba where 
these men were shot. I was hurried to the 
West Indies, war being apparently inevitable. 
The "Virginius" was "returned" to the 
United States government, although she was 
not entitled to fly the Stars and Stripes, and, 
taken in tow by the "Ossipee." was sunk in 
Florida strait. It has been a well-guarded 
secret that orders were issued at Washington 
to have the "disaster" occur. 

That winter in Havana and Key West was 
crowded with experiences. The most inter- 
esting man I met was Commodore Foxhall 
Parker, Flag Officer during the naval drill in 
Florida Hay. in which I wasted about five 
weeks of my life. Those evolutions now seem 
very crude. Torpedoes were fired from spars 
a hundred feet long, supposed to be poked 
under an enemy's hull. When one thinks of 
the steel battle-ship of to-day that does effec- 
tive work at a distance of three miles, the evo- 
lutions of the United States Navy in Florida 
Ray, in the Spring of 1874, were ridiculous. 
Rear-Admiral Kase was intolerably jealous of 
Commodore Parker, and resented any men- 
tion of his name in the newspapers. Because 



one of the headlines in a Xew York journal 
announced the evolutions as those of "Com- 
modore Parker's Fleet." every correspondent 
was sent ashore. It was idle to explain to 
Kase that the correspondents did not tele- 
graph the headings. Ashore we all went, one 
day. on the arrival of the New York news- 
papers. 

On my return to Xew York, after the "Vir- 
ginius" episode, I was hurried to the wilderness 
of Elk County, Pa., to get an "interview" 
with one Harry English, a notorious desperado 
hidden somewhere in the mountains. He had 
been living with his family in a small village 
near Driftwood, when a sheriff's posse from 
the county seat had opened fire upon his 
house, in the middle of the night, and had 
wounded his wife and one of his children. 
English had returned the fire with a Win- 
chester and had hit several members of the 
assaulting party, most of whom were loaded 
with backwoods courage. English was "a bad 
man" beyond dispute, but the obvious intent 
of the special sheriffs was to assassinate him 
first and to deliver his body to "justice" after- 
ward. 

That most charming trait of the American 
newspaper, the Philanthropy of Journalism, 
was aroused in the breast of Tom Connery, of 
tiie Herald, and he directed me to give to the 
hunted, obviously persecuted, man a "square 
deal." 

At the village of Clairmont, 1 hired a guide 
to take me to the lair of the outlaw. Sympathy 
was with English. When he fitted out next 
morning for the long climb. I was advised to 
replace my pumps with cowhide boots, the 
legs of which reached to my knees. Much of 
the route lay through trackless forest and over 
hills, "alive with rattlers." 1 did not believe 
all that I heard; but one "rattler" to a square 
mile was sufficient to cause me lo give $6 for 
(he boots. 



48 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



When the "pack" was being made up for 
the journey I noticed that the outfit included 
a pint hottle of sweet oil and one gallon of 
whiskey. 

"Do we need that much whiskey ?" asked I. 

"Sure!" exclaimed the guide. "It's the 
only antidote for rattlesnake bite! If you are 
'struck.' I cut a 'cross' in the wound, like 
this "—and he suited action to speech by draw- 
ing out a large "Billy Barlow" knife, sharp 
as a razor, and making a "cross" upon the 
top of the shopkeeper's counter. "Then, I 
suck the wound. Next, I rub the cut full of 
sweet oil. Then. I give you one quart of the 
contents of this jug!" 

"I hope to (iod I don't get bitten! The 
cnttinir and the sweet oil I wouldn't mind; 
but if that whiskey is anything like the stuff 
I tasted at the bar, half a glassful ought to 
neutralize any snake poison — even to that of 
a cobra or of a Gila monster. If you give me 
a quart of that liquor. 1 am a dead man!" 

"It's the only remedy!" said the guide, 
shrugging his shoulders, to express his con- 
tempt for a "tenderfoot." "It's thet; or 
you go back to New York in a box, ef you're 
'struck' by a diamon'-back!" 

"And suppose you're bitten ?" I asked, al- 
though I soon learned not to use any word 
for a snake bite but "struck." 

"I'll do the same, with your help," he an- 
swered. "On'y watch thet I don't take all 
the whiskey. I bin 'struck' five times, an' 
nothin' but whiskey an' plenty of it saved 
me. The las' time, my right arm swelled 
bigger 'an thet demijohn, and turned purple, 
in spots." 

We set out, after my credentials had been 
re-examined and I had submitted to search 
to prove that I was unarmed and was not a 
deputy sheriff, masquerading as a newspaper 
correspondent. On my part, I took the pre- 
caution of leaving what cash I had with the 
postmaster of the village — a consumptive chap, 
who disliked to take the responsibility and 
positively refused to give me a receipt. 

English's hiding place was reached after a 
nine hours' painful walk in boots that did not 
fit me. At the "shack," where the bandit 
and two companions were "intrenched," Eng- 



lish's first act was to take a long pull at the 
snake antidote. He then showed to me 
four of the ugliest wounds I ever saw. lie 
had been hit by bullets from the sheriff's posse 
when escaping from his house, as prepara- 
tions were making to set the miserable dwelling 
on fire. 

The version of his persecutions told that 
night saved English's life. The guide and 
I made the return journey without any 
"antidote." 

Every drop thereof had been consumed by 
the "bandits," or rubbed into the wounds 
on English's body. When the last swallow 
had disappeared, English turned to my guide, 
and. in a peculiarly rhythmical voice — a 
voice with tones like those of les courriers des 
hois of the forest primeval — asked : 

"Say. Bill, why in did you bring 

so much sweet oil ?" 

In the Summer of 1874 occurred the myste- 
rious disappearance of Charley Ross, a four- 
year-old son of a Market street merchant of 
Philadelphia. I went to the Quaker City 
the day following the announcement and for 
three weeks sent to the Herald from two to 
five thousand words every night. On the 
day of my arrival, 1 went to the Ross home, 
in Washington lane. Germantown, and walked 
from there to the point in Kensington where 
the boy was last seen in company with two 
men. The subject was then fresh, but in- 
quiry at every house and shop along the many 
miles of roads and streets failed to elicit the 
slightest clue. According to the story of 
Walter Ross, elder brother of Charles and 
aged seven, the two boys had been playing 
in front of their home when two men passing 
in a light wagon asked them if they wanted 
a ride. They did. They were driven to a 
street corner seven miles distant, in the old 
part of the city, where the elder boy was given 
money and told to enter a candy store to buy 
sweets. When lie returned to the street, the 
wagon, the men and his younger brother were 
l^one. 

A great deal of time, energy and money 
were expended by the New York and Phila- 
delphia newspapers in seeking that unfortu- 
nate child. An entire volume could be written 
on the theme without exhausting its mysterious 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



49 



features. Conduct of certain relatives of the 
distressed family remains inexplicable to me. 
Letters from alleged kidnappers began to be 
received by the parents of the boy, but they 
were jealously guarded from inspection. I 
was shown one of them, without being allowed 
to read it. and saw a small double sheet of 
note paper, the water-mark in the corner of 
which had been torn off. The handwriting 
was very memorable. I was authorized to 
offer $1,0011 for the letters, but a much larger 
sum was demanded by the custodian of the 
correspondence. I then put an advertisement 
in the Herald reading as follows: 

PERSONAL. — A man of large wealth, whose wife has become a 
nervous wreck from brooding over the abduction of little Charley 
Ross, will pay the sum demanded for his return, provided the l><>v 
be delivered to him, alive and well, so that he may return the child 
to his parents. No questions will he asked. Send your lawyer to 
John L). Townsend, 256 Broadway, my counsel, who will communi- 
cate with me and arrange a meeting. Money will be in cash. A. I'., 
Box 205. 

As expected, this advertisement brought 
one of the curious letters by first mail. After 
unsuccessful attempts to bring about a meet- 
ing, I had the letter engraved and printed in 
facsimile. Mr. John Norris, an editor of 
Philadelphia, worked for several years on this 
case. His quest extended as far West as 
Ohio and resulted in many strange incidents. 
"Charley Ross" became a bugbear to the 
police of every city in the land. New York's 
Chief of Police ended the hunt for the missing 
boy by "planting" the crime upon two bur- 
glars killed by Judge Van Brunt and a relative, 
as they were in the act of entering the home 
of the former at Bay Ridge. Mosier and 
Douglas were notorious thugs. One of them 
was shot dead; the other lived a few hours 
and was reported to have stated that he and 
his dead companion had carried off the Ross 
boy. He added that the child had died 
while in their custody. This seemed to close 
the book for ever. 

The Winter of 1874-'75 I spent in Wash- 
ington. The press gallery of that time con- 
tained some men of great ability, as I, its 
most inconspicuous member, fully appre- 
ciated. I personally recall Melville E. Stone, 
W. S. Walker, White and Ramsdell, of the 
N. Y. Tribune, who had covered themselves 
with glory bv securino; the text of the Treaty 

D v %f' O ■ 

of Washington exclusively; George Adams, of 



the N. Y. World, afterwards to become a large 
owner in the Washington Star; General H. V. 
Boynton and a score of others. The echoes 
of the Credit Mobilier scandal had not died 
away, and the Pacific Mail inquiry soon fol- 
lowed; but the feature of the Session was the 
passage of the Civil Rights Bill. 

During the final hours of debate on that 
measure. I happened to be in the House Gal- 
lery when an historic attack on Benjamin F. 
Butler was made by John Young Brown, of 
Kentucky. Beck, of the same state, and Cox, 
of New York, evidently abetted. It came un- 
expectedly to the assemblage. Speaker Blaine 
was signing bills. Brown obtained the floor 

DO , 

and in a clear voice that commanded attention 
began : 

"In England, once upon a time, there was 
a man who earned a living by selling the bodies 
of the dead. His name was linked to his 
trade, which is known to this day as 'Burking.' 
Now, Mr. Speaker, I would wish to coin a 
new word for our language, — one that will 
comprehend all that is pusillanimous in peace, 
cowardly in war, and infamous in politics. 
That word is 'Buttering!' ' 

The House was in uproar! It was easy to 
see that Blaine was inwardly pleased. The 
burly figure of James A. Garfield came tum- 
bling down the first aisle on the Republican 
side, with two fingers raised like a buyer upon 
the floor of an exchange. Blaine never lost 
an opportunity to snub Garfield; he paid not 
the slightest attention to him on this occasion. 
Dawes, of Massachusetts, made a formal 
motion that "the language be taken down and 
read for the action of the House." —the usual 
form when a member is to be haled before the 
bar. Garfield hurried to Butler's side, but 
the latter literally pushed him away and got 
the Speaker's eye. He shouted: 

"As the person most interested. I ask the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Dawes] to 
withdraw his motion. I will, in that event, 
move for an immediate vote upon the bill 
before the House." 

That speech was Brown's first and only 
appearance in Congressional vaudeville in a 
star part. He never would have been heard 
of had he not attacked Butler: the diatribe 
made biiti Governor of Kentucky. Butler 



i() 



THE IH)OK of NEW \<>UI\ 



li;id Imth tried iii :i hundred posts ol danger 
demanding courage nnd taet, and had always 
extricated himself. 11*- possessed some traits 
of eharaeter n. <l altogether admirable: bul his 
individualih was the strongest thai wide and 
varied ohservation ever presented to me. He 
eonld I"' the ealmest of men amid general ex 
eitement, ami n most violent, ill tempered 
ereatnre ;il limes of popular res! l>m personal 
nnuovanee, I have reeited M i i -~ ineidenl aboul 
(Jeneral Butler for ili<' purpose of showing a 
praotieal use 1,1 which 1 j »i 1 1 il tu >l long after, 
during .1 \ >- i t of the ftssex statesman l<> New 
York. 

The (Jeneral arrived in \ T e\\ Vork from 
Washington, one afternoon, and 1 was sent to 
gel .1 talk with him on a eurrent news feature- 
Having nvel him several times, al the Capital 
nnd ;il his Lowell home, 1 fell eonfidenl of al 
leasl partial sueeess. lie was at the Fifth 
V venue Hotel, When I asked the elerk to 
sent! up tin card, he nd vised me against « K > i 1 1 ^ 
ll>- explained that the General was in bad 
humor and would not see me. 1 insisted, how 
ever, and went upstairs with the bell boy. 
The boy knoeked. lu answer to a gruff "Come 
in!" I opened the door and stepped into the 

room I he (Jeneral glare<l at me. furiously. 
1 didn't give him a chance for a word, but 
blurted out : 

■'Oose study oi your career. General. has 
taught me that the man who does things must 
be aggressive. The elerk advised me against 
sending up my name, so 1 came personally to 
ask." etc. And. without delay. 1 delivered my 
orders from the city editor. (Jeneral Butler's 
was an interesting picture. When 1 had 
finished, a smile began to pucker one side oi 
his mouth. He used several words that would 
not look well in print. I>ut ended by telling me 
exactly what 1 wanted. He didn't sil down; 
I could not make any notes But when 1 es 
eaped into the corridor, 1 went to a writing- 
room nearby and wrote out his language. As 
1 subsequently learned, other reporters who 
sent cards to the General's room were turned 
dow n. 

My experience at Albany began with the 

Tilden period, when the 1 egislature sat in the 

n-stone capitol. Congress came to an 

end on March 4, 1875. 1 was hustled to 



Albany. Governor Tilden had sprung the 
(anal King investigation, which came as an 

echo of the Credit Moltilier and Pacific Mail 

scandals al Washington, 

In the Assembly chamber echoes of Timothy 
Campbell's voice were slill heard, enacting the 
same drama under Speaker Jerry Mc(iuire 

that he had played so successfully during the 
easA davs of "Boss" Tweed. 'The latter 
"statesman" was in jail and the Court of 
Appeals was getting ready to declare Judge 
Noah Davis' cumulative sentence unconsti- 
tutional. John Kelly, at the head oi Tani- 
manv, was reaching for control of the state. 
Speaker MeGuire was annoyed al Kelly's ac- 
tivity in the upper part of New York, lie 
and "Old Salt Alvord were forming a com- 
bination to "do" both Tilden and Kelly. 
MeGuire was pounding his desk and threaten- 
ing Kelly with "A.r till ion is!" It was a pel 
phrase tt\ Jerrv's and evervbodv had looked it 
up iii the dictionary "the law oi revenge." 
When the exposure oi the canal ringsters 
was sprung, Jarvis Lord, Wood, Woodin 

and others assumed an injured innocence 
defense. 

'Tilden has destroyed the great Democratic 
part\ !" said the members oi his political faith; 
but Democratic and Republican ringsters held 
their heads aloft and feared no evil. Tilden 
did not appear to be a man o( force. When 
the newspaper bovs went to see him he was 
generally standing in his office with his back 
to a log tire and his hands under his eoat-tails. 
He was so diminutive in stature and so guileless 
in face that nobody could mark him as a man 
of stem resolution. Tike Benjamin F. Butler, 
something was wrong with one oi his eyes and 
he carried on much oi his conversation with 
that defective optic. In all my experience 
with public men. 1 never knew one who would 
talk so readily as Governor Tilden. He 
adopted the Bismarck policy oi telling so 
much that his hearer never believed all he 
heard. 

The more the Senate and Assembly stormed. 
the stiller Tilden's backbone became. There 
were as many "crooked" members oi one 
party as the other in that Legislature. The 
Tweed system was still in vogue. Tweed was 
a "fair divider," and Republicans, like Wood- 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



51 



in, hud been "let into good things," because 
there were enough good things to go 'round. 
While the legislative body was rending itself 
asunder in attempts to nullity Tilden's canal 
attack, the Governor tossed into the scrambling 
bunch what he described to me as "An Exege- 
sis on the Historical, Philosophical, Moral and 
Mechanical System of Home Rule." His mes- 
sage of May 12, in which he aired at length 
his fancies regarding municipal government, 
was a remarkable document. It was "a 
tough job," according to Virgil, to establish 
the Roman state; but Governor Tilden showed 
wherein lay the difficulties. 

Members of that Legislature did not read 



the message, having other anxieties to deal 
with; but it contained fully forty yards of 
first-class (clipping) editorial matter for coun- 
try editors who dislike to write, and they gave 
it ample circulation, week after week. Tilden, 
like a true Knight of the Leopard, seized on 
the cry of "Municipal Independence" that 
echoed through the streets of New York City. 
At the close of the Legislative session at 
Albany, 1875, I returned to grapple with re- 
porting. William II. Wickham was Mayor 
and reformation in city politics was complete. 
Several members of the Committee of Seventy 
had used it to climb into office; the organiza- 
tion had worn itself out and had disintegrated. 




52 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER VI 



ACROSS THE ATLANTIC IN QUEST OF NEWS 




Y NEXT step, in the line of 
advancement, was to the Lon- 
don bureau of the Herald, 
which occurred in July, 1875. 
At Queenstown, I learned of 
the "clean sweep" made by 
the oarsmen of Cornell Univer- 
sity at Saratoga Lake while we had been on 
the sea. It was the first of a long series of 
aquatic triumphs for my Alma Mater. The 
original Germanic made an eight-day voyage 
to Liverpool, regarded as fair time; the 
steamer train by the Midland railway landed 
me in London late at night. Reporting for 
duty next morning. 1 was sent to Aldershot. 
to report the rifle match between the American 
team that had won a few days before at Dolly- 
mount, Ireland, and a team selected from the 
Army. The Herald was very enterprising at 
that time. A facsimile of the target was 
divided into squares an eighteenth of an inch 
in size; each square was numbered and each 
number had a code word. By this means, 
the location of every shot was reproduced in 
New York next morning! It seemed natural 
for the Herald to do extraordinary things in 
those days. 

Next day, I had an interview with Mr. 
Bennett at Long's Hotel, a quaint old place 
on Bond street, only recently closed. All that 
recommended it was its high charges. While 
1 was waiting to be summoned, a ' B. and S. " 
cost me two-and-sixpence, in addition to a tip. 
A curious interview followed. Mr. Bennett 
was leaving for New York. He said to me, 
without ceremony: "I want you to write a 
personal letter to me every week. In it, you 
are to tell me what vour associates are doing; 
what you suggest and what they suggest — all 
the news of the office, you understand ?" 

I had heard of espionage, but never had 
given it serious consideration; therefore, the 
suggestion that 1 was to play the spy upon 



my fellow workers gave to me a shock. I 
asked if I was to inform Mr. Jackson, Mr. 
Huvshe, Mr. O'Conner (T. P.) and others of 
what I had written, so they could explain? 
That inquiry discomfited my chief and. tug- 
ging at his mustache, he retorted, "No; not 
at all." 

"I'm not suited for this job. Mr. Bennett," 
was my slow reply. "If a part of my duty is 
keeping watch and reporting upon my com- 
panions. I had best return to New York." 
The fact was not mentioned, but I had taken 
the precaution to buy, with my own money, 
a prepaid return ticket. I had heard of men 
being arbitrarily discharged on the other side 
and left to get home as best they could. 

My employer abruptly closed the interview: 
I expected discharge. Since then, I have 
learned that it was one act in my career that 
attracted me to my chief — with whom I re- 
mained fifteen years and then left, of my own 
accord, while occupying the highest position 
in his gift. 'The Commodore" felt the same 
contempt for employes who would serve him 
in the capacities of spies that I did. 

In later years, when occupying posts of 
authority, this incident taught me to deal with 
frank fairness to subordinates. If an editor or 
reporter had to be suspended, discharged or 
reported to his employer for dereliction of 
duty, my invariable rule was to send for the 
offending man and say to him: "Here is what 
I am writing to Mr. Bennett about your con- 
duct (or failure)." After the text had been 
read, I always added: 'This letter will go 
by to-morrow's steamer. If yon desire, you 
can send an explanation by the same mail; or 
you can hand it to me and I will inclose it 
with my letter. In fact, you can do both." 
During all the time I was in London, not a 
sneaking: letter crossed the sea from me! 

When John P. Jackson returned to the 
Continent, I was placed in charge of the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



.5:3 



Bureau. J. A. MacGahan, who in 1S?.'5 had 
crossed the Ki/.il Kuiu desert — over the cara- 
van route east of the Aral Sea — to overtake 
General Kaun'man's army, returned from the 
Arctic seas, where he had been on the "Pan- 
dora" with Captain Allen Young. This 
steamer had penetrated into Peel Strait, hop- 
ing- to discover traces of the lost expedition of 
Sir John Franklin. Nothing of value was 
added to Arctic research; hut MacGahan's 
book, "Under the Northern Lights," was the 
outcome. I had met this remarkable young 
man at Key West, during the "Yirginius" 
episode, and was afterwards to encounter him 
in Madrid, under curious circumstances. Dur- 
ing his stay in London, we were much together 
and at one of the dinner parties we were 
fond of holding at the Cafe Royal, on Regent 
street, I met "Jack" Burnaby, who imitated 
and repeated MacGahan's "Ride to Khiva." 
Burnaby admired the American as devotedly 
as did Genera] Skobeloff. 

Among the incidents of that Summer and 
Fall was witnessing Captain Webb's first 
attempt to swim the English Channel, from 
Dover to Calais. lie was unsuccessful, but 
subsequently performed the remarkable feat. 
I attended a celebration of the fiftieth anni- 
versary of the first trip of Stephenson's loco- 
motive, at Darlington, and saw the original 
engine, raised upon blocks, in operation. 
Among other interviews secured [was one 
with Benjamin Disraeli, then Premier; Glad- 
stone, leader of the Opposition; Commander 
Cameron, R.N.. on his return from a walk 
across Central Africa, and C. II. Spurgeon, 
who resented the title of "Reverend." Moody 
and Sankey, the revivalists, were convulsing 
the British capital and I had talks with them. 
The most valued of all my acquaintances in 
London was Charles Reade, whom I came 
to know well and at whose house, in Knights- 
bridge Terrace, I had luncheon and dinner 
several times. 

Although I often attended the Houses of 
Lords and Commons, the most memorable 
recollection I have of the chief man of the 
Empire was seeing him emerge afoot from 
Downing street, hi the company of Earl Rus- 
sell, bound for Parliament House. Disraeli, 
with his stooping shoulders, was much the 



less impressive of the two men. They had 
just left "No. 10 Downing," where a meeting 
of the Ministry had occurred. In Downing 
street, the "Commoner" was master, there he 
could create noblemen; but in the corridors 
of Westminster Palace, Earl Russell separated 




JAMES GORDON BENNETT 
(The famous caricature in Vanity Fair) 

from his chief and proceeded to the House of 
Lords. 

Downing street is the smallest and yet the 
most important street in all this world! It 
is a dark, alley-like passage; but "No. 10" is 



54 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



the official residence of the Prime Minister 
of the British Empire and has been since the 
time of Sir Robert Walpole — 200 years. This 
building more resembles a middle-class board- 
ing-house, such as usually kept by widows of 
army officers, than a place of national im- 
portance. Many Americans respect this dingy 
almost repellant lodge of diplomacy and 
national ambition, because Sir George Down- 
ing, who laid out the street and built the house 
therein, was of American ancestry; his mother 
belonged to the Winthrops of Massachusetts 
Bay Colony and he is the second graduate on 
the roster of Harvard College! After getting 
an American education, he went to England 
and. seizing opportunity when it offered, be- 
came Oliver Cromwell's ambassador at the 
Hague. He grew so rich that Charles II did 
not displace him. Those were the days in 
which "graft" was permitted to public of- 
ficials. He invested his money in a strip of 
land on the western side of Whitehall and built 
houses on two sides of the short street that 
cuts through it. One often reads in the letters 
of Americans making their first visit to Lon- 
don that the tall Nelson monument, in Trafal- 
gar Square, is the center of the great British 
Empire. They mistake the point from which 
all distances are calculated for the strategical 
center of the English world. Were they to 
walk down Whitehall, toward Westminster 
Abbey, a few hundred yards they would pass 
the entrance to Downing street, absolutely 
the most important place in London. 

When one speaks of "the official residence" 
of a foreign minister of state, he is not to be 
understood as intimating that the personage 
lives there. It is the place to which his mail 
should be addressed; the location of the council 
room at which, surrounded by the members 
of his cabinet, he decides upon the national 
policy. No. 10 Downing street is the place, so 
far as the destinies of Imperial Britain are 
concerned. England has gone through many 
political upheavals, not to mention its changes 
of dynasty, since Sir George developed the 
street that bears his name; but No. 10 does 
not exhibit any improvement. I never fail 
to take a look at the old house when in London, 
and on my last inspection its external appear- 
ance indicated that the woodwork of its doors 



and windows hasn't known fresh paint for a 
quarter century. When one inspects the low 
and narrow doorway he is bound to feel that 
he is rubbing against about all the history 
(except Japanese) that has been made in the 
past 200 years. His ears may hear the echoes 
of the footsteps of Walpole, Pulteney, Pelham. 
Grafton, North, Pitt, Fox, Perceval, Liver- 
pool, Canning, Wellington, Grey, Peel, Mel- 
bourne, Aberdeen, Palmerston, Russell, Derby, 
Disraeli (commoner and earl) ; Gladstone, 
Rosebery, Marquis of Salisbury, Balfour, Sir 
Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith, the 
latest premier. Naturally, hundreds of other 
men have passed and repassed that portal who 
were known to the world. 

Meanwhile, complications growing out of 
the "Virginius episode" had developed new 
phases. Spain had not paid the promised 
indemnities to the wives and orphans of pris- 
oners shot at Santiago de Cuba and General 
Caleb Gushing was directed to "put on the 
screws." In November. I was rushed to 
Madrid. A brief stop was made in Paris, 
during which Mr. Ryan, Herald representative 
in the French capital, took me to call on 
Emilio Castelar, ex-President of the brief 
Spanish Republic, then in exile. I found him 
a most genial man. He gave to me six letters 
of introduction to his friends in Madrid. 
Here is a copy of the only one undelivered, 
owing to the absence of Seilor Carvajal from 
the city: 

Paris 27 de Noviembre de 1875. 
Exmo. Sr. Dr. Jose Carvajal: 

Querido Amigo Mio: Le recomendo a V. vivamente al dador, 
M. Julius Chambers, joven publicist;! Americano, corresponsal del 
New York Herald, primer periodico hoy quiras de toda la tierra y 
que pasa p esa con animo de informar a suis pais sobre nuestra 
politica. Fraterlo V. con toda atencion y todo carino. pues sin duda 
alguna lo merece y tenga V. la seguridad de que cuanto haga en su 
obsequio lo consideran como un favor personal. Sabe V. que le 
quiere mucho su amigo. 

Emilio Castelar. 

General dishing received me cordially and. 
after my official call, sent to me the following 
letter: 

Fuente Castellano, 7, Madrid. 30 Nov., 1875. 
Dear Mr. Chambers: Pray come and dine with me to-day at 
0.30 o'clock, that we may talk over your plans at ease and see what 
I can do in aid of them. 

C. CUSHIXG. 

In December. 1875, Secretary Hamilton 
Fish sent through General Cushing, to all the 
governments of Europe (except Spain), a 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



5.5 



circular note asking if the American govern- 
ment would be justified in intervention in 
Cuba. It was one of the monumental, tactical 
blunders of the second Grant administration. 
Of course, Spain was soon supplied with a 
copy of that note, and, through the aid of a 
woman in Madrid, I secured the gist thereof, 
mailed it to my friend, Leopold A. Price, 
then Consul at Bordeaux, who wired it to 
New York. To save General dishing embar- 
rassment, I dated the cablegram from Vienna 
—incidentally causing Minister Kasson serious 
trouble. 

An urgent request had been added at the 
end of the news message that Secretary Fish 
be asked about the "circular"; and, if he 
denied its existence, that Representative S. S. 
Cox, of New York, offer a resolution calling 
for all papers in the "Virginius" case. As an- 
ticipated, Mr. Fish denied that such a letter 
had been sent. Mr. Cox introduced his 
resolution; three days later the text of the 
"circular" was read to the House. It was 
printed next morning, with Mr. Fish's denial 
in black letter at its top, and the "leader," 
written by John Russell Young, was entitled 
"Lying and Diplomacy." Thus did a young 
correspondent, with a powerful journal at 
his back, "get even" with a Secretary of 
State. (See page 58.) 

Spain was sure to make rejoinder and I 
devoted my energies to capturing its text. 
Engaging a clerk in the Foreign Office, under 
the pretext of teaching me the language, I had 
him breakfast with me daily until one morning 
he brought to me a "brief" of the anticipated 
reply. 1 had in my possession the most val- 
uable current news in all the world! But, 
how could it be got out of the country, past 
the censor? I might take train and steamer 
for Bayonne or Bordeaux; but during the 
interval the Spanish Minister would be 
likely to give out the rejoinder. The risk of 
delay was serious! It must go that night! 
But 'how? 

The Prince of Wales (afterward Edward 
VII) was about starting on his return from 
India. Much had been printed in the Madrid 
newspapers about a visit to Spain en route. 
The interest was intense. Seizing upon that 
slender subterfuge, I prepared a code and 



sent the following message to the London office 
of my journal: 

Add letter mailed about Prince of Wales' visit to Spain. Prospec- 
tive coming Wales received with great public favor. His return from 
East adds interest to special private advices from Alexandria regard- 
ing re-opening of diplomatic controversy between Italy and Egypt. 
Have just ascertained Italian government has issued rejoinder to 
Egypt's circular regarding Suez question, replying in unmistakable 
language to propositions stated by Egyptian minister of state that 
continued troubles at Suakim necessitate Egyptian intervention in 
name of humanity. In tone, reply is quite belligerent; takes high 
ground on question raised. Impression at Alexandria is that it com- 
pletely counteracts effect produced by previous document. In sub- 
stance it declares existing commerce between Egypt and Suakim has 
not suffered to appreciable extent by troubles in Abyssinia. Instead 
of trade having diminished, it has actually prospered and is grow- 
ing. Therefore, no grounds of complaint and no tenable justifica- 
tion for proposed drastic action. Statement is also boldly made that 
Egypt's commerce is not her own, and little prospect of any in future. 
Attention is asked to fact that many citizens of British India and 
Arabia, as well as of Egypt, have established themselves at the com- 
mercial center of Suakim, where, unmolested by the government, 
they have amassed large individual fortunes, adding no wealth to 
country, because trade is in foreign hands. Further asserted that 
Arabian territory is constant refuge for outlaws from Suakim, who 
are there permitted to hatch conspiracies to detriment and injury of 
home government, thus outraging law of nations. Besides, all just 
and equitable claims between Egypt and Abyssinia have been ami- 
cably and fully satisfied, or are before courts for adjudication. There- 
fore, no just complaint exists. Style of paper is argumentative, vet 
fully dignified, as becomes occasion. Alleged to have been written 
by Minister of War. Don't forward this until letter arrives, but 
acknowledge receipt immediately. 

John P. Jackson, at the London office, 
wired back: "Prince of Wales' dispatch ar- 
rived safely." The code, hastily prepared, 
had been arranged in triplicates for greater 
diversity and here's a copy of it from my 
notebook, as written that night: 

Cuba Suakim, Suez, Abyssinia. 

I inicd States. India, Arabia, Egypt. 

Spain Italy, England, Tunis. 

Madrid Alexandria, Rome, Calcutta. 

Havana Cairo, Bombay, Naples. 

Washington Madras, Aden, Venice. 

As will be seen, many of the words were 
unused. I then prepared the following mes- 
sage, which W. E. Addis, an agent of the 
Winchester Arms Company, resident at my 
hotel, sent to Jackson's private address in 
order that it might not be identified with mv 
previous message : 

Jackson, Dane's Inn. London: In letter forwarded regarding Prince 
of Wales in East, cancel first twenty-six words. Then correct India, 
Arabia, Egypt to United Slates; Italy to Spain; Suakim and Abys- 
sinia to Cuba; Alexandria to Madrid. Answer, if understand. 

Several hours of anxiety followed, until 
this telegram was put into my hands: "Prince 
sailed for America to-night, in perfect health." 
This message can be found in the early part 
of January. 1876 (X. Y. I fen, hi). Behold 



50 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



how dear it becomes, beginning with the 
twenty-seventh word: 

Private advices from Madrid (are at hand) regarding the reopen- 
ing of the diplomatic controversy between Spain and the United 
Stales. Our Madrid correspondent lias just ascertained that the 
Spanish Government has issued a rejoinder I" Secretary Fish's cir- 
cular letter regarding the Cuban question, replying in unmistakable 
terms t<> propositions set forth by the Secretary of State of the United 
States that continued troubles at (in) Cuba necessitate American 
"intervention in the name of humanity." In tone, reply is quite 
belligerent; takes high ground in the discussion. The impression at 
.Madrid is that it completely counteracts effect produced by previous 
document (the circular letter of Secretary Fish, called for in the 
House of Representatives by S. S. Cox, of New York, two weeks ago 
and finally sent to Congress, despite many denials of its existence). 
In substance the rejoinder declares that existing commerce between 
the United States and Cuba has not suffered appreciably owing to 
troubles in Cuba. '' Attention is asked to fact thai many citi- 

zens of the United Stales have established themselves in the com- 
mercial centers of Cuba, where, unmolested by Spain, they have 
grown rich adding no wealth to the country because they are aliens 
and send their money to the United States as fast as accumulated. 
The rejoinder further asserts that United States territory is a con- 
stant refuge for Cuban outlaws, who are there permitted to hatch 
conspiracies (tofitout privateers like the "Virginius," to buy and ship 
arms to insurgents), to detriment and injury of the Spanish Govern- 
ment, thus outrageously violating the law of nations, etc. 

According to W. F. (i. Shanks, a long-while 
special correspondent and editor, this was the 
first time in the history of journalism a code 
message was sent in advance of its key. Its 
success was complete. 

One rainy night in the British capital, after 
my return from Spain, the bell of the Herald 
bureau, 4(i Fleet street, rang violently. A 
moment later, an attendant ushered in a 
slender brunette; she was voting and pretty, 
but her eves were rilled with tears. I was 
preparing my cablegram of the night; but the 
sight of a young woman, in trouble, caused 
an interruption of my work. She carried a 
copy of The »S'/.», which she had received front 
friends in New York. It contained on its 
front page tin attack upon the conduct of a 
Miss Emma Abbott, of whom I never had 
heard. 

The stranger explained that she was Miss 
Abbott and that the article would ruin her 
career, unless disproved. I read the two 
columns, which denounced Miss Abbott be- 
cause she had married and abandoned a 
musical career, upon which her American 
friends, in Dr. Chapin's church, had spent a 
lot of money. The article charged that the 
beneficiary had been untrue to her trust and 
ungrateful to her patrons. Most prominent 
was tin allegation that Miss Abbott's chief 
European patroness, the Baronne Rothschild, 
of Pans, had disproved of the marriage and 



had rebuked her protege for taking the step. 
When I asked for till the facts, the visitor 
said: 

"I was ill and in despair in Paris, due to the 
loss of my voice. I couldn't sing a note; 
my voice was gone — I feared, for ever! This 
calamity was so appalling to me that I dared 
not confess it to my closest friends. One day, 
in utter wretchedness, I threw myself upon the 
mercy of the good Baronne, told to her the 
terrible truth ami closed by recounting Eugene 
Wetherell's devotion to me and my rejection 
of his offer of marriage. 1 then added that 
Mr. Wetherell had counselled me to call upon 
him, should misfortune overtake me and he 
would renew his offer. The sweet lady com- 
forted me; she advised marriage, in the hope 
that 1 would find in a new happiness solace 
for my bitter disappointment at the wreck of a 
professional career. I cabled Mr. Wetherell 
that night; he took a steamer the next day! 
So we were married in Paris. 

"A month's rest in Northern Italy restored 
niv health. One glorious morning, my voice 
came back to me! I could sing! The first 
train carried us to Paris. I was heard at the 
Conservatoire, and on the strength of that 
performance secured an engagement with 
(';trl Rosa in New York, which 1 am about 
to fill. This article will ruin my prospects. 
It is unjust and bears the ear-marks of a 
jealous rival's inspiration. Can you set me 
right .-" 

'These charges stand or tall upon the alle- 
gation that the Baronne Rothschild regarded 
your marriage as a breach of good faith to her 
and to your American friends, who, by their 
pecuniary aid, enabled yon to attain a musical 
education," I replied, conservatively. "What 
proof have you that this charge is untrue?" 

"I have here a letter from the Baronne 
saying far more strongly than 1 have done 
that she advised me to marry, had met my 
husband and approved my choice." 

As she spoke, Miss Abbott opened a reti- 
cule and began a search therein. 

"Please let me see it!" I demanded. 

In another moment, the letter was in my 
hand. The Rothschild crest was there! In 
forty lines of dainty French script, the pa- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



o I 



troness of this American girl said everything 
that a tender, sympathetic heart could ex- 
press. A complete vindication! 

"Your act in handing to me this letter to 
read, Madame, constitutes a legal 'publica- 
tion,' under the English common law," I ex- 
plained, speaking with enthusiasm, because 1 
recognized the power of the document, it' 
properly used. 'The vindication of your 
course by your noble patroness has been 
published in London to-night. I shall at once 
cable its substance to Xew York; it will be on 



the breakfast-tables of your Friends and ene- 
mies to-morrow. Your career is saved!" 

The lady was shown to her cab and re- 
turned to her hotel, much relieved in mind. 

What 1 predicted occurred, and Emma 
Abbott began a career of remarkable financial 
success. She died in Salt Lake City fourteen 
years later worth a million dollars, which she 
left principally to small Western churches 
tailing to endow even a single free bed in a 
hospital for ailing members of her own or the 
newspaper profession. 




58 



Tilt: BOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER VII 



NINE PRESIDENTS I HAVE KNOWN 




• IN* E going to Washington in 
December, 1874, I have per- 
sonally known every President 
of the T nited States after Lin- 
coln. Although General Grant 
was serving his second term at 
that time, Andrew Johnson 
came to Washington as a Senator from Ten- 
nessee. 1 went to his hotel, on Pennsylvania 
avenue, as a Herald correspondent, to inter- 
view Johnson and was received by him in his 
room. He was in bis shirt-sleeves, but wel- 
comed me without apology and gave to me a 
cordial shake from a damp hand. Before I 
describe what to me was one of the mosl dra- 
matic and historic incidents witnessed during 
many long years' experience at the Capital, 
namely. Johnson's reentrance to public life, 
among a body of men containing many of his 
bitterest critics and enemies, I will speak of 
President Grant a- he appeared in those 
day-. 

Conditions at that time were not favorable 
for a Herald representative to meet the Presi- 
dent. Mr. Bennett was agitating the subject 
of "Caesarism" in his usually vigorous man- 
ner. Indications had appeared of a desire by 
the large army following of the Grant fortunes 
to renominate him for a third term. Mr. Ben- 
nett was bitterly hostile and never allowed his 
paper to go to press without a leading article 
denunciatory of the cabal then urging a second 
reelection upon the incumbent of the White 
House. There was no proof at that time that 
General Grant seriously entertained such a 
de-ire. although in lssn he yielded to senti- 
ment and would have welcomed another 
term. 

One of my firsl experiences with a member 
of the Cabinet had been a call upon Hamilton 
Fish, Secretary of State, who had treated me 
with rudeness, because I came as a Herald 
representative, although he had the impudence 



to say that I "appeared to he a gentleman, 
although in the employ of a blackguard." As 
has been seen in these "Recollection-." I 
squared that account with Secretary Fish 
from Madrid, one year later. Owing to this 
and other incidents. 1 was quite disinclined to 
call upon General Grant, although I had -ecu 
him .several time- ami had been formally pre- 
sented to him at one of his reception-. 

One afternoon, it became imperative for 
somebody in the Herald's Washington office 
to see the President. I walked from the F 
street office to the White House, climbed the 
step- to General Babcock's room and laid the 
matter before the President'- Secretary with 
the best grace I could summon. Babcock on 
several occasions had been extremely cour- 
teous to me. hut he balked at sending in the 
card of a Herald man. At that moment. 
John P. Foley, then editor of the National 
Republican, the official organ of the President. 
entered. lie greeted me warmly and when 1 
told him I was trying to see President Grant, 
he -aid. "Come with me!' Almost before I 
could comprehend what had occurred, we 
were in the Cabinet Room and I had Keen 
presented to the Chief Executive. General 
< riant held an unlighted cigar in his teeth, 
and when I stated the object of my mission. 
he motioned me to walk with him to a window 
overlooking the White Lot and told me every- 
thing I warded to know. Of course, I was 
informed regarding the etiquette on such 
occasions and knew that the President must 
never he (pioted a- giving information to a 
correspondent. The friendly relations estab- 
lished at that time continued up to the last. 
I met the General many times thereafter, es- 
pecially at Long Branch, at the house of 
George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, and. at 
the General's suggestion, once rode at his 

— — 

side from Philadelphia to New York, hearing 
for two hours, his vivid memories of the Mexi- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



59 



can War and frontier soldier life. Never at 
any time did I hear him utter a sentence 
about friend or foe in connection with the 
Civil War. 

Grant's position in history as a commander 
is unalterably fixed. What place he will have 
in the political chronicles of his country is 
difficult to determine. The opinion of future 
historians will probably be that the defeat of 
his Santo Domingo annexation scheme, under 
the conditions then inevitable, namely, the 
possession of the acquired territory by a baud 
of hungry Federal "grafters,"- was a fortu- 
nate event, although the sincerity of its oppo- 
nents, such as Sumner and Stevens, was doubt- 
ful. 

Genera] Grant belonged to the Do-Nothing 

Presidents, was founder of the dynasty! He 
was not corrupt but he was surrounded by a 
gang of the most unscrupulous political scoun- 
drels this country has known since the days of 
Aaron Burr. 

The two Houses of Congress were domi- 
nated by Malice and Money! The persecu- 
tions heaped upon the Southern people, still 
staggering under direst misfortune, although 
self-invoked, were continuous, vindictive, re- 
lentless and intended to repress instead of 
uplift. General Grant was dominated by 
Congress: and was ruled by a few political 
tyrants as heartless as Persian satraps. Had 
he not said, "Let us have peace!" No doubt 
he meant what he uttered: but fresh in mind 
must have been the treatment his predecessor, 
Andrew Johnson, had received at the hands 
of Congress. The influence of that example 
doubtless was potent! History will censure 
Grant for the Reconstruction period and the 
heaped-up miseries of a defeated people; bul 
the course of the Legislative branch of the 
Government was abhorrent to Grant's own 
views. Hero worship was repugnant to him: 
but he lacked sufficient firmness to antagonize 
a few strong men, in the Senate anil House, 
who would have destroyed him had he opposed 
them. He had not forgotten what they tried 
to do to Johnson: manv of the same men had 



shown their fangs 



in 



187^. Sumner and 



'Thad." Stevens were dead, but there were 
many of the survivors left, as I shall show 
when I speak of Andrew Johnson. 



When the Marine Rank failed in 1884, it 
carried down with it the firm of (irant & 
Ward, the head of the house being a son of 
General (irant. The latter borrowed $150,000 
from William II. Vanderbilt to avert the col- 
lapse and lost it, with all his savings. The 
Grants had much sympathy. The General 
mortgaged all his property, declining Mr. 
Vanderbilt's offer to cancel his loan. The 
"frenzied financiers," who had brought on 
the disaster. James 1). Fish, president of the 
Marine Rank, and Ferdinand Ward, active 
member of (irant & Ward, were arrested for 
fraud, tried, convicted and each man was 
sentenced to ten years' imprisonment at hard 
labor at Sing Sing prison. It was a crushing 
blow to the methods of Ward, but similar prac- 
tices were revived after a tew years and trusts 
bloomed in the State of New Jersey, a forc- 
ing house for more than a hundred such or- 
ganizations. 

The last hours of the Forty-third Congress 
(March. 1875) were approaching, a session 
made historic by the enactment of the Civil 
Rights bill. Senators, as well as Members of 
the House, were chiefly intent upon the final 
passage of bills in which they were personally 
interested. Under such conditions, a short, 
broad-shouldered and aged man entered the 
main door of the Senate Chamber one after- 
noon, alone. He gazed about the room: then, 
with a sneer upon his shaven face, he walked 
to a sofa at the rear. Nobody appeared to 
know this stranger. Obviously, he had a right 
to the floor. I had seen him for the first time 
on the preceding night at his hotel. Therefore, 
I recognized the Senator-elect from Tennessee, 

a man who had sat in the Lower House in 
the forties, had presided over the Upper House 

and as President of the United States had 

been arraigned before the bar of this same 
Senate, charged with high crimes and misde- 
meanors! By the narrow margin of one vote, 
he had escaped becoming the victim of a 
political persecution as vindictive as any since 
the time of Warren Hastings. 

Here was the small, stoop-shouldered man 
who had the nation by the ears in 1868, 
Andrew Johnson! 

A hurried glance about the Chamber dis- 
covered Senators who had voted to degrade 



()() 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



this man, types of unbending will or .slaves to 
party. How many, many things had happened 
in seven years! The re-volt of the Independent 
Republicans in 1872, for example, led by the 
denouncers of Johnson, — statesmen who so 
soon forgot their own intolerance. And public 
opinion, too. had reversed itself. The Ameri- 
can people had mentally effaced the Johnson 
who uttered wild harangues and "swung 
'round the circle," and had installed in their 
hearts the face and figure of him who had 
been a sturdy, steadfast loyalist when the 
Federal Union needed friends. 

The presence of that neglected old man, at 
the rear of the Chamber, conjured up a pic- 
ture of that same legislative hall on March 13, 
1868 (not witnessed by me), when the social 
and diplomatic world assembled to see the 
baiting of a President who had become useless 
to his party. In that very room, the menace 
of impeachment and eternal disgrace had been 
confronted. The indictment was prepared by 
seven partisans, every one of whom, remain- 
ing alive and in Congress, afterwards par- 
ticipated in filching $1,250,000 from the 
American people under the pretext of "back 
pay." The summons and complaint was 
signed by Schuyler Colfax, whose character, 
on investigation, disqualified him for passing 
judgment even upon an habitual criminal. 
The presiding Chief Justice was plotting for 
the presidency, assisted by a "reptile fund" 
as vile as any ever got together in France or 
Germany: the names of newly rich members 
of the Whiskey Ring, who supplied the money, 
and of the corrupted newspaper correspond- 
ents who received it, were known to the silent 
man. Was it strange that he was cynical ? 
Could he forget the undue haste with which 
his case was Forced to trial. Never was felon 
given shorter shrift! His counsel. Stanbury, 
Black and Evarts, asked forty days to prepare 
the defence; they were grudgingly allowed 
ten, two of which were Sundays. 

The trial was a farce, a mockery of legal 
procedure. The Senate Chamber was a scene 
of social carnival, like an intellectual debauch 
of "profane history." Women of high estate 
intrigued, coaxed and fought for tickets. Am- 
bassadors were not then accredited at this 
court; but the ministerial spy of every petty 



monarch was present to gloat over the final 
disgrace of a Republic that had barely sur- 
vived a bloody Civil War. There wasn't any 
White House coterie; therefore, a daughter of 
the chief justice and wife of a Senatorial juror 
monopolized the Executive box, to enjoy the 
humiliation of its rightful occupant. The 
Montague-Spragues and the Capulet-Antho- 
nys, two rival Rhode Island families, head- 
ed the social factions and reigned at different 
ends of the Senate gallery. The crush was 
tremendous. Historians, artists, diplomats 
jostled one another. The sergeant-at-arms 
made proclamation, as if he were garter king- 
at-arms. The respondent appeared by attor- 
neys. He did not come in person to bend the 
knee before the high chief justice who was 
scheming for his job, or Senator Wade, who, 
as President of the Senate, expected to fill out 
the Presidential term. He continued to scorn 
the Fortieth ( longress. 

Then the charges were read. — eleven articles 
that soon simmered to two! Three sets of 
speeches made by Johnson at Cleveland and 
St. Louis were offered in evidence. None of 
the reports agreed in text. A violation of the 
Tenure of Office act was made out. because 
Johnson had removed Stanton, who, with 
Chase, was scheming against him. A very 
grave accusation (at the time) was Johnson's 
veto of the Freedmen's Bureau bill, — a bureau 
that afterwards became so corrupt that the 
very men who had condemned Johnson abol- 
ished it! And so on, to the end. Intolerant, 
contemptuous to counsel for the respondent, 
the mock tribunal held fifteen sessions. Then 
it took a vote on Article XI (the ousting of the 
insubordinate Stanton), and the verdict was: 
Guilty, 35; not guilty, 19. The impeachment 
failed because the prosecution had not secured 
the requisite two-thirds. 

Charles Sumner, after violently opposing all 
expressions of personal opinions by Senatorial 
jurors, talked thirty-four printed pages of a 
report in explanation of his own vote. A calm 
reading to-day shows its insufferable egotism. 
George II. Williams, afterwards known as 
" Landaulet" Williams and dismissed and dis- 
graced by Grant, concluded five pages of talk 
with the assertion: "I believe Andrew John- 
son to be dangerous to the country." 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



61 



While thinking of all these tilings, I had 
been watching the old man on the sofa whose 
mind probably had been following a similar 
channel. He beckoned to a page and sent 
the hoy to the only Senator present among 
the nineteen who had voted "Not Guilty!" 
The moment Mr. McCreery was aware of 
Senator-elect Johnson's presence, he hastened 
to welcome him. The fine Kentucky gentle- 
man was arrayed in immaculate linen and a 
swallow-tail coat of perfect fit. The greeting- 
was frank and hearty. By this time, people 
in the gallery "took notice," and the incident 
became the dominating one in the Chamber. 
The big Kentuckian towered head and shoul- 
ders over the stocky, stooping, tailorman from 
Tennessee. Still clasping hands, they turned 
and overlooked the Senators between them 
and the rostrum upon which Vice-President 
Wilson was enthroned. And Wilson had voted 
"Guilty!" 

An eye-stroke of the Chamber showed John- 
son that of the thirty-five who had condemned 
him. thirteen were still there! Senator Brown- 
low, whom Johnson was to succeed, kept out of 
sight; the Senator-elect was not on speaking 
terms with his prospective colleague, Mr. 
Cooper, because of alleged duplicity in the 
legislative election at which Johnson had been 
defeated two years previously. 

Johnson tried to appear unconscious of the 
glances directed upon him from all parts of 
the Chamber. Morton, of Indiana, had a 
front seat on the main aisle. A look of defiance 
blazed in his face; lame as he was, he thought 
himself Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert of the 
Senate, always ready for the lists of oratory. 
His long black hair crackled with magnetism: 
but the man near the door took no notice of 
the menace of the "War Governor." 

Mr. Anthony's face assumed a far-away 
look. Simon Cameron, just returned from 
the glamour of Russian court life, began to 
totter about, affecting to be unusually busy. 
Mr. Cragin kept his eyes on the floor. Mr. 
Edmunds, known as "St. Jerome" in the 
press gallery, was making an objection to a 
ruling; but when he caught sight of a group 
of Democratic Senators gathering about the 
former President, he abruptly sat down. In 
his abstraction, like the barber's brother in 



the Arabian tale, he kicked over a row of law- 
books on shelves at the front of his desk. His 
colleague, Mr. Morrill, of the "moral tariff" 
was travelling afar on a train of thought! 
Senator Morton glanced at Morrill and sneer- 
ed. When I asked him. days after, why he 
had done so, the Indianian answered: "Be- 
cause Morrill thinks he looks like Charles 
Sumner, but he doesn't." 

Roscoe ( lonkling's figure was one that never 
could remain out of a picture. His desk was 
on the left side of the main aisle, in front of 
that occupied for so many years by Stewart. 
of Nevada. 'Conkling was aware of Johnson's 
presence, and taking up a letter pretended to 
read. In reality, he was watching from his 
left eye the attention bestowed upon the re- 
habilitated politician. 

A deep hush fell upon the Senate Chamber. 
Mr. .Johnson, on the arm of Mr. McCreery, 
began to move down the centre aisle towards 
the high altar where sat Vice-President Wilson. 
Mi-. Cooper appeared at the top of the centre 
aisle, bowed stiffly, and attended his colleague. 
Amid impressive silence, the three men walked 
down the broad steps. Johnson had grown 
much paler. Several of the younger members, 
memorably Carl Schurz, rose to do honor to 
Johnson's former greatness, — as the House of 
Commons uncovered to Warren Hastings on 
his final visit. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen, one of "the thirteen 
apostles of reform," was on his knees, seek- 
ing a book or — a hatchet ? Morrill, of Maine, 
and Ferry, of Connecticut, pretended to be 
chatting together and affected a sympathy 
for the man they had once condemned. John 
Sherman stared the newcomer frankly in the 
face! I was watching them closely from the 
front row of the press gallery. Their eyes 
met; in his glance, Johnson forgave Sherman. 
The two men afterwards became friends. 
Senator Hamlin, who hadn't censured John- 
son, nudged Boutwell and pointed to the ceil- 
ing. The Massachusetts man didn't appre- 
ciate this reference to his speech in the House, 
during which he had described "a hole in the 
sky" through which alone the (then) Presi- 
dent could escape punishment. 

In a grave and sonorous voice, Henry Wil- 
son read to the man before him the obligation 



itt 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



of a United States Senator. Wilson was stand- 
ing, an unusual thing for him. I wondered 
whether the act was a tribute to the candi- 
date, or an atonement for wrong? On every 
side, recognition of irreparable injustice was 
shown. The scene suggested one in which 
a jury had condemned a man to death and 
afterward repented of its action. 

Half an hour later, I met Senator Johnson 
in the corridor, still walking on the arm of the 
sturdy McCreery. There were tears in his 
eyes as 1 lifted my hat and greeted him and in 
answer to my inquiry regarding his absent 
friends, he said with the frankness of a child: 

''I feel very badly. I would wish to shake 
hands with Bayard (meaning the father of the 
then Senator from Delaware), Buckalew of 
Pennsylvania. Davis of Kentucky, Doolittle 
of Wisconsin, Dickson of Connecticut, Fessen- 
den of Maine. Grimes of Iowa, Fowler of 
Tennessee, Hendricks of Indiana. Johnson 
and Vickers of Maryland, Norton of Minne- 
sota, Ross of Kansas, Saulsbury of Delaware, 
Trumble of Illinois and Van Winkle of West 
Virginia. I cannot forget that they were 
steadfast when — when my own party had 
repudiated me and I needed friends." 

President Hayes had served in the House 
of Representatives before I went to Wash- 
ington and although I was a native of Ohio, 
I did not meet him until near the end of his 
first year at the White House. Governor 
Tilden, whom he had defeated, technically, 
was well known to me, — first from his con- 
nection with the Tweed trial and, later, at 
Albany when he was Governor. Tilden, small 
as he was in stature, possessed a distinct per- 
sonality; but the countryman from Ohio, 
Hayes, who got the White House job, travelled 
entirely upon his record as a capable soldier. 
Nothing discreditable could be said about 
his career in the army. He never had been 
trapped, although he had encountered several 
of the cleverest tacticians of the Confederacy. 
I was told by men who had been in Congress 
at the time that Hayes was rarely listened to 
with attention. 

Entering office with a clouded title, since 
universally believed to have been purchased 
corruptly (probably without his knowledge), 
President Hayes should have devoted sleep- 



less nights to squaring his dubious position by 
specific performance of great deeds. Instead, 
he supinely took his place as second of the 
Do-Nothing Presidents. Already large cor- 
porations were grabbing everything in sight! 
Railroads were putting bills through Congress 
giving to them many hundred thousand acres 
of public lands, at the same time that they 
were defaulting in payment of interest upon 
money already advanced or bonds guar- 
anteed by the Government. Nine men out 
of every ten in politics were so occupied for 
the purpose of enriching themselves, or giv- 
ing public money to other people who would 
divide with them! President Daves heard 
nothing, saw nothing, did nothing! True, 
his Secretary of the Interior, Carl Schurz, who 
had left his native land for the cause of liberty, 
had fought valiantly in the Federal army 
for the salvation of the Union, did strive to 
check thefts of vast timber regions; but his 
efforts were abortive. President Hayes was 
more interested in a patent incubator he daily 
visited in a corner of the White House con- 
servatory than he was in the welfare of the 
masses of the American people. 

Garfield I had come to know well during 
heated days of the Civil Rights Bill debate. 
General Butler, "the Holy Terror," domi- 
nated the House at that time so completely 
that it is well-nigh impossible to think of any- 
body else in connection therewith. One of 
his favorite pastimes was belittling Garfield. 
Whether the latter ever thought himself an 
orator or not is difficult to say. He dressed 
like a parson and swaggered like Don Caesar 
de Bazan ! Garfield was a victim of indolence, 
bad advice and physical infirmity. That 
he was without moral principle as regards 
his fellowmen was proven by the Rosencrans 
correspondence with Secretary Chase, which 
was given to Charles A. Dana by John W. 
Shuchers, Chase's private secretary, and pub- 
lished in The Sun. His futile effort, as 
President, to curb the dictation of Senators 
and Representatives was merely part of a 
plan to secure control of the Empire State 
for James G. Blaine, in order to select its 
delagation in the next Republican National 
Convention. 

The issue upon which Conkling and Piatt 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



63 



went down, apparently forever (true in the 
ease of Mr. Conkling), was what is variously 
termed "the Congressional Rule" in the 
House and "Senatorial Courtesy" in the 
Chamber. Although an unwritten code, it 
had been recognized since the days of Presi- 
dent Jackson and was so firmly established 
that Senators and Representatives of the domi- 
nant party insisted upon its observance. An- 
drew Jackson had uttered the dictum. "To 
the victor belongs the spoils" and he always 
lived up to it. The right of individual mem- 
bers of Congress to be consulted by the Presi- 
dent regarding all appointments made in their 
states and districts owed its origin to this 
claim. Although Garfield pretended a desire 
to overthrow it, subsequent disclosures indi- 
cated that he merely wanted to overturn the 
party machine in the Empire State and to 
pave the way for James G. Blaine's nomina- 
tion in 1884. YVhitelaw Reid became the 
President's chief advisor and a long telegram 
that he sent to the late John Hay, to lie read 
to the President, found its way into the col- 
umns of the Herald by some mysterious chan- 
nel and precipitated a national split in the 
party. The perils of telegraphy never were 
more obvious. It is doubtful if a despatch so 
tilled with personalities ever went over tin- 
wires between New York and Washington. 
Robertson, an up-state politician, was ap- 
pointed to the Collectorship of this port, in 
opposition to the wishes of the two Senators, 
causing their resignations. The acrimony and 
fevered condition that followed developed a 
crank. Guiteau, who shot the President and 
who was hanged for the infamous act. From 
that time until the second term of Theodore 
Roosevelt, no attempt was made by any Chief 
Magistrate to challenge the monstrous usurpa- 
tion that had well-nigh destroyed the appoint- 
ing power of the President, — except of a few 
cadets to West Point and Annapolis. 

To the hour of his death, in health or in 
suffering from his wound. Garfield was a Do- 
Nothing President and will be so taken bv 
posterity. 

Of General Arthur, 1 would wish to speak 
with affectionate kindness. We had known 
each other at the Custom House on Wall 
street, when he was Collector, — had together 



eaten pumpkin pie, made by an aged Vermont 
woman who kept a stall in one of the corridors. 
Arthur came into the presidential office under 
a very different cloud from that which had 
enveloped Hayes. He was a politician of nar- 
row vision; easy in his views on polities, re- 
ligion and morality. During his encumbeney 
of three years and almost a half, Congress did 
exactly as it pleased. There were no great 
scandals, simply because there were no serious 
Congressional investigations. The "Trusties" 
were "sawing wood," just as they had been 
under Hayes and Garfield. 

The name of Grover Cleveland first came 
to my ears in a peculiar manner. I was sent 
from New York to a hanging in Pennsylvania 
and the sheriff whose oath compelled him to 
execute the condemned man was in such a 
stale of hysteria that he told me he had sent 
to the sheriff of Erie County. New York, a 
man named Cleveland, to engage the services 
of one of his assistants who had had experience 
in hanging people. This imported executioner 
showed to me two nooses he had brought with 
him from Buffalo. This was during the winter 
of 187. '5. 

The next mention of Grover Cleveland was 
made to me in the winter of 1881 by Governor 
Alon/.o B. Cornell at a dinner of the New York 
Alumni of Cornell University. 

"There is a remarkable man in Buffalo." 
began the Governor. "His name is Cleveland, 
and although he is mayor of the city, he re- 
cently came to see me in a legal capacity on 
behalf of a convicted murderer, under sen- 
tence of death. His appeal to me for execu- 
tive clemency was totally unlike any I hereto- 
fore have received. It was without sentiment. 
It was a cold, dispassionate presentation of the 
unfortunate circumstances under which the 
killing was done, the provocation and the 
shadow of presumptive justification, from the 
view-point of the man who committed the act. 
Although the brief which he left with me con- 
tained numerous citations of precedents, 1 was 
so impressed with the sincerity and the legal 
cock-sureness of the man that 1 commuted 
the sentence. 1 hope some of my successors 
will pardon him." He was talking about his 
own successor, although he did not know it! 
Many years afterwards, at another Cornell 



(>4 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




t~r>—*Lcr. 



d/V 



•^ 



^ 



PRESIDENT CLEVELAND, IN 1895 
(A pen and ink sketch given 10 me bj Valerien ( Iribayedofl I 

dinner, attended by ex-Governor Cornell and 
ex-President Cleveland, I publicly repeated 
this episode, much to the astonishment of 
both guests. After the dinner, Mr. Cleveland 
confirmed the story to me. He did not pardon 
the man; one of his successors did so. 

Daniel S. Lamont had been known to me 
as a member of the Albany Argus staff. As 
happened, I was not sent to Albany on any 
mission during Governor Cleveland's term, 
but I was present at Washington on March 4, 
1885, as one of the Herald staff, to report the 
Inauguration of the new President. From 
the stand at the south side of the capitol, I 
saw President Arthur drive up with his suc- 
cessor by his side, heard the oath administered 
by Chief Justice Waite, saw Mr. Cleveland 
kiss a small, ribbon-tied Bible (said to have 
been a gift of the President-elect's mother), 
and I listened with rapt attention to the inau- 
gural address. In December of the same year, 
I returned to Washington as Herald corre- 



spondent and remained until the close of the 
session the following Summer. 

Col. Lamont, owing his title to service on the 
staff of Governor Cleveland, was the Presi- 
dent's private secretary and through him I 
had easy access to the Chief Executive. Wil- 
liam ('. Whitney, well known to me when in 
the Corporation Counsel's office, at Xew York, 
was Secretary of the Navy, and was a valu- 
able friend. 

An army officer (on May 17, 1886) whis- 
pered to me that President Cleveland had 
bought a country place on the Green Mill 
road. The real estate broker's name was un- 
known to him. Going to the White House, I 
asked Lamont if my information were true. 
He looked me straight in the eye and said, 
"No, it is incorrect." Further, he would 
not speak. The President could not 
be seen. It was a complete throwdown! I 
was leaving the White House, believing the 
rumor unfounded. On the stairs. I encoun- 
tered Secretary Whitney. He remarked about 
my dejected look. I told him what hail hap- 
pened; I had hoped for a "scoop," but 
Lamont had disillusioned me. A merry 
twinkle appeared in the Secretary's eves as 
he cross-examined me, lawyer-like. 

'Tell me exactly what you asked him?" 
said he. 

"Has the President bought a country place 
on the Green Mill road?' was my language," 
I replied. 

Whitney laughed heartily. "He told you 
the truth, because the place is on the Tennly- 
town road. See Bennett, a broker on F street, 
opposite the Masonic Temple. Good luck to 
you ! 

I hired a team, drove to the real estate 
office, got the address of the President's new 
property, "Red Top;" drove the five miles, 
entered the grounds, gave money to the care- 
taker, thoroughly explored the building, made 
plans of its two floors, returned in the car- 
riage, caught "the Congressional Limited" 
for New York at 3.50, wrote my "story" on 
the train, delivered the copy at Broadway and 
Ann Street about eleven o'clock, took a soda 
water with old John Graham, at Iludnut's, 
jumped into a hack, caught the twelve o'clock 
ferryboat at Cortland street, went to bed in 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



65 



a Pullman at Jersey City and woke up in 
Washington next morning. The trip to New 
York was necessary, for two reasons: one 
cannot telegraph diagrams and wires have 
been known to "leak. " It was a fine "scoop." 

From a professional view-point, the most 
important event in President Cleveland's first 
term was Miss Folsom's marriage to him on 
June l 2. 1N86. I was held responsible for the 
Herald's account of the wedding. It proved 
to be a difficult assignment, involving labor 
necessary to produce six columns of printed 
matter, in addition to securing the informa- 
tion. The Rev. Dr. Sunderland, who offi- 
ciated, gave to me the original text of the 
service. This curious paper is still in my 
possession. Ralph Meeker, who had known 
the Folsom family, was sent to the honeymoon 
retreat in the Blue Ridge. I attended the 
reception given by President and Mrs. Cleve- 
land on their return from the mountains. 

The unfortunate incident of Mr. Cleveland's 
first term, — for which he was loudly praised 
by the "Interests" at the time. — was the 
sending of United States troops to quell a 
strike in Chicago. Had he been appealed to 
by the Governor, he would have been within 
his prerogative. Governor Altgelt, like men 
since his day who have regard for the many in- 
stead of the few, was described as "an anar- 
chist," by corporation-controlled Senators and 
Representatives. He was misunderstood, just 
as were western farmers who revolted against 
exactions of the railroads. He was quite ca- 
pable of handling the situation. Interference 
of the Chief Executive at Washington and the 
subsequent calumny heaped upon Altgelt 
crushed his sensitive nature and caused his 
death. I knew Governor Altgelt reasonably 
well, understood his views in opposition to 
the growing monopolies and thoroughly credit- 
ed his sincerity. 

While it is hardly fair to class Mr. Cleve- 
land with the Do-Nothing Presidents, be- 
cause he tried to accomplish some things, his 
achievements were not equal to his courage 
and the disasters that grew out of the Wilson 
tariff legislation set back the cause of tariff 
reform a generation. 

Senator Benjamin Harrison was well known 
to me in 1886, when I was at Washington. I 



frequently met him at Charles Nordhoff's house 
on K street. Once I was invited to his modest 
residence, adjacent to the large property of 
R. R. Hitt. The Harrisons were simple- 
minded people; the Senator's wife kept a cow. 
which she milked. I remember telling a 
ghost story at Nordhoff's one night about 
which Senator Harrison expressed much in- 
terest. At another time, when I reminded the 
Senator that his grandfather had been an 
Indian fighter anil President of the United 
States, he said: "I never felt much interest in 
my ancestors. I never received anything 
from them except an education and that was 
sufficient. My father died poor. I married 
young and my wile and I lived in a house of 
three rooms. We had six knives, six two- 
pronged folks and six plates. Mrs. Harrison 
did her own work and never since have we 
been happier." 

After Benjamin Harrison became Presi- 
dent, I met him probably fifty times. De- 
spite- the fact that he was always courteous, 
duty compels me to assign him to a niche 
in the gallery of Do-Nothing Presidents. He 
had a fine legal mind, was inclined to be in- 
dependent, and had in the person of James G. 
Blaine the most brilliant and far-seeing co- 
adjutor possessed by any President since the 
days of Jefferson. Much was possible for 
Harrison. He was a worker, unentangled by 
any alliances; as he told Ingersoll, he believed 
himself a selection of Almighty God; he had 
been a soldier and had won a brevet for 
bravery in the face of the enemy at Atlanta; 
he knew of the methods employed by lobby- 
ists and their masters to influence legislation, 
although his own hands were perfectly clean. 
Unlike his predecessor, he did not lack ex- 
perience in Washington methods. He could 
have put his medical finger upon every dis- 
ease that infected national affairs! Alas, he 
did nothing! He hampered Blaine; was jeal- 
ous of him. The broad views regarding 
reciprocity and especially the development 
of South American trade held by his Secre- 
tary of State were repudiated by Harrison. I 
know these facts to be true, because of con- 
versations had with Mr. Blaine at Cape May 
Point and later at Bar Harbor. Harrison 
believed what he said to [ngersoll, but the 



(.<; 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



latter's retorl was whal made the incidenl 
immortal. "I have said some pretty hard 
things about the Almighty, l>ui never anything 
equal to that," was Ingersoll's rejoinder. 

As I was about to enter ;i train for New 
York nl the old Sixth street station in Wash- 
ington (1891), I saw ex President Cleveland's 
face al a « indow nl' n Pullman ear and stepped 
in for a moment i<> pa\ my respects, lie was 
coming north from Louisiana, where lie had 
been visiting his friend, Joseph Jefferson, the 
actor, Jefferson's plantation was in the parish 
so admirably described in George \Y. Cable's 
"Bonavcnture." Mr. Cleveland did no! travel 
in ;i private car, l>ul nobody intruded upon 
his privacy, lie volunteered to me the infor- 
mation thai the fishing and shooting were 
of llie best. I was aboul to proceed to the 
far end nl llie parlor ear. where inv seal was 

located, w lien Mr. Cleveland asked if I played 

"California .lack." 1 confessed il was inv 
enthusiasm when in college. The poller 

produced a table and a pack of cards. Iml the 
K.\ ['resident's memon was so far superior 
to mine thai 1 was outclassed, lie played a 
realh superior game. 

1 desire to s;i\ little about Mr. Cleveland's 
second lerin. The Venezuela message will l>e 

referred to elsewhere. Mr. Cleveland was 

sound on the money question, I u > I he did not, 
in message or speech, utter a protest against 
the constantly increasing arrogance o( the 
"protected" monopolies! lie placed one verv 
large loan in Wall Street that gladly would 
have been taken by llie people o\' the United 
Stales. Proof i*\' this assertion was furnished, 
near llu- i-wA o( his term, when Mr. Pulitzer 

forced the President to throw open the sale 

ot a second bond issue to public subscription. 

The proprietor of the World took a million 

dollars' worth of the bonds himself. The 

issue was greatly over-subscribed, at much 

higher prices than Wall Street would have 

ottered. 

William Mckinley made his first appear 

ance in Washington as a Representative in 
December, 1ST? lie was a gawky, pink- 

cheeked, serious countryman from Ohio. He 
attracted little attention. lie was generally 
addressed as "'Major." Ami. to the day of 
his death, he preferred that title to any other. 



I first met him in the second session of that 
( longress. 

At first, he didn't appear to have any "long 
suit" to play; 1ml he began to study the tariff 
and had the courage to make a speech thereon 
before adjournment. lie was soon given a 
place on the Committee of Ways and Means. 
Ultimately becoming chairman of that com- 
mittee, he reported, in 1890, the tariff bill 
which has gone down in history associated 

with his name. 1 1 was the beginning of ex- 
travagance on the part of Congress, because 

il supplied much more money than was needed 
for the wauls of the country. Although 

'The Billion-Dollar Congress" did not occur 
until Thomas l>. \{ca\ became Speaker and 
the Dingley Tariff had taken the place of 
that ascribed to Major Mckinley actually 
framed by each branch of the corporate in- 
terests in manner thai best suited its wishes, 
money Mowed freely into the treasury in such 
large quantities thai it was squandered by 
( longress. 

President Mckinley delivered his address 

of acceptance to the notification committee 

on the front porch of his Canton home late 
in July. IS!Xi. 1 was present and heard him 
read the paper in his solemn, eloquent voice. 

After the Chicago Convention of 1896, which 
had nominated Bryan so dramatically, 1 had 
gone lo Lincoln with the successful candidate 
so suddenly sprung into prominence; hut 1 
arrived in Canton the day before the Notifi- 
cation Committee. 1 remained there until 
the following March, when the President-elect 
came to Washington to be inaugurated into 
office. During all those months 1 saw the 
candidate and after his election in November, 
llu- President-elect, two to four limes every 
.lay. 

Major Mckinley was very sociable with the 
newspaper men. Late at night, when he had 
a strong cigar well aglow, he talked about 
everything except his part in the Civil War 
and the struggles of the Cubans for freedom. 
Never at any time did President Mckinley 
evince any sympathy with the Cubans. Sev- 
eral curious incidents occurred during that 
Winter. The President-elect frequently wrote 
editorial articles for a Cleveland newspaper. 
The theme generallv was the Cuban insurrec- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



(i? 



tion. Before long, I established underground 
means by which I was able on the following 
morning to distinguish the prospective Presi- 
dent's work in the Cleveland newspaper. 
Two years later, when General Weyler had 
created his inhuman reconcentrado camps in 
Cuba, I visited that Island and with the as- 
sistance of Mr. Bryson and others had about 
500 photographs made of starving Cubans, 
which were enlarged and personally shown to 
President McKinley. Those pictures were 
sufficiently pitiful to have drawn tears from 
the stony heartedest specimen of mankind. 
President McKinley was not impressed; no 
action was taken. Children and adults were 
dying in the various camps at the rate of a 
thousand daily. Bubonic plague existed in 
all parts of Cuba. The Battleship "Maine" 
was blown up on February 15, 1898, but even 
then war was not declared until April. 

McKinley was a "Do-Nothing President," 
the last, let ns hope. lie had entered office 
with so many obligations to repay that two 
full terms at the White House, had he been 
spared to fill them, would hardly have sufficed 
to wipe off the slate. His liabilities, largely 
incurred by his faithful friend, Mark II anna, 
were as far-reaching as notes given for money 
loaned to pay off debts of $100,000 incurred 
in business enterprises that turned out badly. 

Marcus Alonzo Ilanna was in most respects 
the most creditable associate with the McKin- 
ley regime. He became a politician late in 
life, but he was a firm believer in the power 
of money and purchased delegates, just as he 
would have bought votes had it been neces- 
sary. He was not a hypocrite. Rev. Dr. 
Henry ('. McCook.of Philadelphia, has written 
a book paying proper tribute to Senator 
Ilanna as an associate. I made a trip with 
Ilanna in his private car through the State of 
Ohio and a more amiable traveling compan- 
ion I never knew. Mr. Bryan was his equal. 

Mr. Ilanna directed the McKinley Admin- 
istration as absolutely as any Mayor of the 
Palace ever conducted the affairs of a Mero- 
vingian King of France. President McKinley 
did not possess sufficient political acumen to 
foresee the coming revolt against trusts and 
other vast corporate interests; but Senator 
Ilanna scented the coming upheaval and was 



getting his house in order to separate from the 
so-called "Old Guard." Were he alive to- 
day, Senator Ilanna would be in line with 
La Follette and his party. 

The death of President McKinley was de- 
plorable; bul Theodore Roosevelt, his suc- 
cessor ex-officio, committed a regrettable error 
when he undertook to temporize with the cor- 
porate interests during the rest of the period 
that would have belonged to McKinley. lb' 
had said he would "follow McKinley lines" 
and this is an explanation for the acceptance 
of campaign contributions from E. II. Ilarri- 
man and large corporations. McKinley had 
acceded to the same sort of thing by Ilanna. 
Politically, Roosevelt was shrewd, because 
three years of radicalism, such as he subse- 
quently developed with sublime heroism, when 
past occurrences were considered, probably 
would have caused his defeat for rcnomina- 
tion and deprived him of the four years' leader- 
ship In an active reform campaign that char- 
acterized his second term in office. 

It is an undeniable fact that many men 
close to McKinley grew rich out of the Span- 
ish-American War. To my personal knowl- 
edge, there was a certain series of offices on 
Broad street through which most of the trans- 
ports procured abroad were bought. Names 
of all the members of that firm did not appear 
upon its front door. Very U-\\ visitors ever 
reached the rear suite — a far away, mystical, 
generally unattainable goal, wherein sat a 
gross, flabby-cheeked, old man. always chew- 
ing a cigar, whose word was final regarding 
most of the ships and equipment purchased 
abroad. 

The rise of Theodore Roosevelt was not 
due to luck but to persistent activity in his 
own interests. He felt himself destined for a 
brilliant career and never lost sight of that 
hope. He believed himself capable of being 
useful to his fellow countrymen in a way 
not wholly selfish. When recently asked how 
he would be classified, as to his livelihood. 
Roosevelt is said to have replied. "Ranchman 
and author." Apparently, the Twenty-sixth 
President of the United States has little desire 
to go down in history as a "politician." in the 
general acceptance of the word, although he 
lost no time in getting into political life after 



68 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



his graduation at Harvard. He left eollege 
in 1880, and entered a contest for Assembly- 
man in the fall of the following year. His 
services in the New York Legislature were 
earnest but not remarkable; at the close of 
the second session he went to his ranch in 
North Dakota, stopping at Chicago, en route, 
to serve as a delegate to the Republican 
National Convention that nominated James G. 
Blaine for the Presidency. Two years of 
open-air life followed. His health never had 
been good up to that time and the young man, 
then about 26, — for he was horn in New York, 
Oct. 27, 1858, — passed whole days in the 
saddle. This brief period of ranch life had ;i 
marked effect upon his subsequent career. 
He became fond of hunting and whenever a 
few weeks of vacation offered during later 
years he hurried to the Rocky Mountains to 
shoot big game. The ranchman had just 
married his second wife and the experience of 
frontier life was exceedingly novel to husband 
and wife. 

The Republican nomination as Mayor of 
New York was offered to Theodore Roosevelt 
in the Autumn of 1886 and he returned to 
make the canvas. The contest was a remark- 
able one in several ways. Abram S. Hewitt 
was the regular Tammany candidate, but 
Henry George accepted the nomination of the 
Labor party. Hewitt was elected. For six 
years, Roosevelt served in the tiresome and 
humdrum office of Civil Service Commis- 
sioner, when another turn of the wheel landed 
him as President of the Police ( lommission in 
the City of New York. One of the remark- 
able peculiarities about the career of Theodore 
Roosevelt is that on several occasions he has 
found himself in a political cut de sue from 
which further progress along the road toward 
distinction seemed absolutely impossible. His 
defeat for the Mayoralty was well-nigh crush- 
ing and ended his availability, from the view- 
point of any party leader. His isolation in the 
Civil Service Board was complete, — he was in 
a fair way to have the procession pass him. 
So in the Police Department, he seemed to 
be out of place engaged in the suppression of 
crime. The next step, into the post of Assist- 
ant Secretary of War, under McKinley, ap- 
peared to be the finishing blow to his ambi- 



tion. And yet, in that position of duty, as in 
others, he rendered the most valuable services 
given by any subordinate official connected 
with the executive arm of the Government. 
He it was who secretly prepared for the 
equipment of the United States Asiatic Squad- 
ron by despatching two trainloads of powder 
and shell to San Francisco, whence the mate- 
rial was shipped direct to Hong Kong and 
stowed aboard ship before the official declar- 
ation of war. 

When the Spanish war burst upon the 
country, Theodore Roosevelt stepped out of 
the narrow environment of the Navy Depart- 
ment and called about him men of the open 
air, — the "rough riders of the plains!" The 
response was immediate. When the First 
Volunteer Cavalry regiment was raised, he 
asked Dr. Leonard Wood to take command, 
and served under him as Lieutenant-Colonel. 

The first noteworthy event of the campaign 
was the recognition of the utter incompetency 
of the commissary and medical departments 
of the Army service. The tainted food fur- 
nished to the soldiers was denounced by 
Roosevelt in a letter sent over the heads of his 
superior officers to President McKinley direct. 
Two years in the Police Department of New 
York had taught the volunteer officer that 
"tainted money" was back of rotten food. 
Had Generals Miles, Brooke or Shatter acted 
with the same energy, several men at the head 
of the Beef Trust would have gone to prison. 
Gen. Miles knew all the facts and his negli- 
gence in bringing the criminals to justice 
formed the basis of an enduring displeasure 
toward him on the part of the man who was 
to succeed to the Presidency and who lost no 
time in showing his contempt for a timid 
Lieutenant-Genera 1. 

The landing of the First Volunteer Cavalry 
upon the Cuban coast east of Santiago was 
immediately followed by the sharp skirmish 
at Las Guasimas, in which several of the 
Roosevelt troopers were killed. Although few 
members of the "Rough Riders" had ever 
been in battle, most of them had been "under 
fire." The exigencies of life on the plains as 
cow-boys, deputies-sheriff and administrators 
of frontier justice had made them fearless. 
The participation of the "Rough Riders" in 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



(i!) 




THEODORE ROOSEVELT IN 1897 

(From a steel engraving) 



the general engagement on San Juan Hill was 
unimportant, and nobody connected with the 
troop ever has claimed any glory for that day's 
event. Theodore Roosevelt was promoted to 
be Colonel of his regiment for gallant service, 
and returned with his men to Montauk Point. 
His name was upon every lip and as early as 
August of 1898 he was suggested for the 
Governorship of Xew York. lie had escaped 
from the cul de sac in which he constantly ap- 
peared to find himself! 

While at Montauk Point and a member of 
Colonel Roosevelt's mess, I attempted to ren- 
der a signal service to the "Rough Riders" 
and their commander. Mayor Van Wyck had 
distinctly declined to invite the body to parade 
in front of the City Hall that he might review 
it. Knowing the Mayor, I undertook to ob- 



tain his consent. At my own expense, I came 
to Xew York and saw Robert A. Van Wyck. 
When I mentioned the object of my visit, he 
said: "Do yon think I am going to help 
Roosevelt to get the Republican nomination 
for Governor?" I answered that such a con- 
tingency had nothing to do with my request. 
I suggested that more depended upon Mr. 
Piatt than on any act of the Mayor. I en- 
larged upon the desire of New Yorkers, with- 
out regard to party, to see the "Rough Riders." 
Van Wyck would not consent. 

Despite the opposition of Mr. Piatt, the 
Republican "boss" of this state, who had 
other plans, the popularity of Colonel Roose- 
velt compelled his selection by the Saratoga 
convention and he was elected Governor. 
The plurality wasn't as large as expected: 



ro 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



its smallness was due to bad Mood engendered 
by the miscarriage of prearranged plans for 
the party "slate" caused by Roosevelt's can- 
didacy. Taking office on January 1. 1899, 
Governor Roosevelt began to play national 
politics seriously. He did several remarkable 
things during his chieftainship at Albany. 

What kind of man is this Roosevelt ? Na- 
poleon tells in one of his letters of a ramble. 
incognito, among the hills near Tarare, a 
manufacturing town not far from Lyons, dur- 
ing which tramp he met an old woman climb- 
ing a steep stretch of road with a bundle of 
fagots on her back. The First Consul re- 
lieved her of her load to the top of the hill 
and then asked : 

"And this fellow Napoleon; he's a tyrant 
like all the others, isn't he?" 

"It may be." answered the crone; "but the 
others have been the kings of the nobility, 
while he is one of us. We chose him our- 
selves!" 

This little story describes the career of 
Theodore Roosevelt. lie was schooled in 
both elective and appointed office. Inclined 
as he was to prove unruly and to take the 
same measure of Congressional integrity as 
do most citizens, we. Democrats and Repub- 
licans, chose him to be President by an over- 
whelming plurality. He was not made Presi- 
dent by politicians. He was the first Repub- 
lican since Lincoln to he chosen over the heads 
of cabals of railroad managers, bankers, " ( lap- 
tains of Protected Industries" and political 
bosses. 

Roosevelt's last four years were in such 
contrast to the McKinley administration that 
this period of his career must always be re- 
garded as typical. Every hour thereof ex- 
hibited sturdy efforts to break the fetters that 
custom and tradition had forged upon the 
Chief Executive. A trust-owned Senate was 
defied, although sucji contention for the masses 
as against the few were followed by cloak-room 
threats of impeachment and humiliation. The 
resolute man at the White House went straight 
ahead. He made mistakes; but the people 
trusted him. if politicians did not. 

The old fagot gatherer stated the situation: 
"He was one of us; we chose him ourselves!" 

My first meeting with Theodore Roosevelt 



was during the heat of the mayoralty cam- 
paign of 1886. He looked much younger than 
he really was, almost boyish. After that dis- 
astrous experience, young Roosevelt became a 
plainsman. Our next meeting was at a dinner 
given to Whitelaw Reid at the D. K. E. Club 
in the fall of 1SS9. when we sat together. He 
made a speech possessing the elemental vigor 
characteristic of his subsequent addresses. 
Thereafter, he again disappeared from public 
view for a brief space. 

When the troops returned from the Spanish 
War to camp at Montauk Point. I was spe- 
cially engaged to interview General Shatter on 
his return, — the troops having preceded him. 
Through the acquaintance of Major Jerome, 
who had campaigned with "Pecos Pill," as 
Shafter was known in the Army, I became a 
member of the mess of the First Volunteer 
Cavalry. I slept in a tent provided by the 
New York World, but took my meals at the 
same table with Colonel Roosevelt and Lieut. - 
Colonel Brodie. As my stay lasted a week, 
before the arrival of the "Mohawk" with 
Gen. Shafter, an acquaintance of twelve years' 
standing was renewed. 

I owed my success in getting aboard the 
"Mohawk" and securing an exclusive full 
front page interview with General Shafter to 
my friend. Captain William II. Stayton, a 
former United States Naval officer then in 
command of one of the despatch boats, who 
put me aboard with General Shaffer's mail. 
Stayton was too modest to permit me to 
acknowledge the obligation at the time, as I 
wished, and this is the first opportunity I 
have had to express my gratitude. Mr. Stav- 
ton left the service for the legal profession— 
as did a comrade of the "Virginias" campaign, 
the late "Jack" Soley — and is now a success- 
ful member of the New York bar. 

One episode of those Montauk days is very 
memorable. Anxiety regarding the success of 
my assignment made me a poor sleeper. One 
beautiful morning, soon after sunrise, I arose 
and in my pajamas set out for the beach, to 
take a plunge in the ocean. Far away. I heard 
reveille sounded! Turning my gaze shore- 
ward, I saw a figure in khaki, mounted upon 
a horse running at full gallop, coming toward 
me over the sand dunes. The horse and rider 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



71 



appeared and disappeared at intervals. Not 
within the range of my vision was there a mov- 
ing object, except this horseman. He was 
Theodore Roosevelt, bound toward the beach 
for his morning dip! He was in the water 
almost as soon as 1 was. 

Already at Montauk, the young Colonel was 
addressed as "Governor"; but he treated the 
matter as a joke. It was not thought that 
Mr. Piatt would sanction his nomination. He 
was. however, chosen Governor of New York, 
not by a thrilling majority but by a sufficiently 
large vote to show that he was the only Re- 
publican who could have been elected. 

While at Albany, Governor Roosevelt ma- 
terially assisted in the agitation I started for 
the return to this country of the body of John 
Paul Jones. I had drawn a joint resolution 
which Senator Boies Penrose introduced in 
the Senate and Representative Harry II. 
Bingham presented to the House. The text 
of that resolution was as follows: 

For the removal of the bones of John Paul Jones from Paris. 
France, and their reinterment in the United States: 

Whereas, the bones of John Paul Jones, our firsl great sea cap- 
tain, rest in a neglected grave in Paris, the locality of which is now 
established; be it 

Resolved, That the Ambassador of the United Stairs to France be 
directed by the President to promptly secure necessary permission 
to open the grave and to have the remains of the naval hero of the 
American Revolution properly prepared for removal to the United 
States. 

Resolved, That a ship-of-war be detailed to receive the remains 
at a French port, with all the honors due to the body of an Admiral, 
and they be brought to the port of New York, or such port as the 
Secretary of the Navy may designate. 

Resolved, That a sufficient sum is hereby appropriated out of 
any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to meet 
the expenses of disinterment in France, transfer to the United States 
and final entombment. 

These resolutions were introduced on De- 
cember 4th and (5th. 1899, were adopted soon 
after and received President McKinlev's sig- 
nature. The agitation that followed this prop- 
osition swept the country. This honor to 
Paul Jones had been one of the dreams of my 
life, somewhat on a par with my trip to the 
headwaters of the Mississippi. At my per- 
sonal expense, I had employed a friend in 
Paris to search the Parisian newspapers eon- 
temporary with the funeral of Admiral Jones, 
and had located the grave beyond question in 
the Protestant cemetery as it existed in 1792. 
On the corner nearest to the Gare du Nord, 
a four-story brick tenement stood, the base- 
ment of which was a wine shop. To the right 
thereof was a two-story stucco and wooden 



structure occupied by a frame maker. It 
covered the original entrance to the ancient 
cemetery and the body of the first Admiral of 
the United States Navy was located at a point 
I'orly feet inside the pavement line. I sent 
Charles Ileikel. a photographer at Xo. l.'3o* 
Faubourg Saint Ilonore, to make a picture of 
the site as it is to-day. 

Elsewhere, in talking about Mr. Piatt, I 
describe the nomination of Roosevelt for the 
Vice-Presidency and the strong disinclination 
he had to accept it. Had he not done so, his 
political career probably would have ended 
with his Gubernatorial term. President Mc- 
Kinley was assassinated in September, 1901, 
and therefore. Vice-President Roosevelt never 
presided over the Senate. During his incum- 
bency of the White House, President Roose- 
velt was readily accessible to old friends. 

I went to New Haven on the final day's 
celebration of Yale's 200th anniversary in 
October, 1901. to witness the conferring of 
honors upon President Roosevelt. Youth, in 
colleoes as in men. may be joyous, but aw is 
grand and glorious! Around Old Eli were 
gathered her children of the last half of her 
second century to rejoice with her. Alma 
Mater welcomed them and the world beside. 
Atmosphere of a college town was gone; one 
might believe a national convention to be in 
session. Medals of bronze and rosettes of 
deep azure silk adorned every coat in sight. 
The day began with the arrival of President 
Roosevelt and his party from Farmington, 
among the Connecticut hills, where he had 
passed a restful night aboard his private car. 
President Roosevelt was in fine spirits. He 
had climbed the stone walls and crossed the 
meadows afoot. Most characteristic of all. 
he had helped a strange farmer, far from the 
village, round up his herd of cows at milking 
time. 

After its run down the valley, the special 
train of two Pullman cars had arrived on time. 
The President sprang lightly off the rear 
platform, which had been surrounded by a 
squad of blue jackets. A national salute was 
fired somewhere in the neighborhood. Two 
companies of State militia immediately sur- 
rounded the cars. 

The President was the Roosevelt of old; 



rz 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



the broad smile and laughing eyes, the rosy 
lips and glistening teeth. lie was a picture of 
good health and happiness. He looked young- 
er, if anything, than during the campaign. 

The presence of the armed militia was clear- 
ly repugnant to Roosevelt but he passed at 

c to an open landau in waiting and seated 

himself at the rear, right hand. .Mayor Stud- 
ley got in beside him, because the President 
was the city's guest until he was landed at 
Phelps Hall gate, on university territory. 
The front scat was occupied by President 
Hadlev, of Yale. The President had dressed 
for the ceremonv aboard his car. lie wore 
a long walking coat and silk hat. It was the 
first time 1 have ever seen him wear gloves. 
They were of tan. 

When the carriage moved oil' to the music 
of a band, a grand popular demonstration 
occurred. The streets along the route had 
been packed with people since early morning. 
Curiosity to sec the young President appeared 
to be universal. 

When turning into Chapel street an incident 
caused tin' President to spring to his feet and 
raise his hat. An aged veteran appeared in an 
upper window, wearing the uniform of '61 
and holding an old army musket at "Present 
arms!" It was like a picture from an old 
print: but Roosevelt recognized its genuine- 
ness, lie stood proudly erect, waved his 
hat as if to cheer, and the crowd promptly gave 
voice to his suggestion. A similar incident, 
though not so dramatic, occurred at Trinity 
Church, on Chapel street. As the carriages 
approached, the chimes in Trinity tower were 
playing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." 

The instant the notes caught the President's 
ear he again rose and reverently stood uncov- 
ered until the ivy-clad church was passed. 
It was a graceful and evidently an impulsive 
act — an incident thoroughly Rooseveltian. A 
few r moments later the first carriage entered 
the college grounds and drew up at the gate- 
way to Phelps Hall. This portal is a groined 
arch of Gothic architecture. Its material is 
old red sandstone. Roosevelt sprang from 
the landau, up a slight acclivity that rose 
from the curb and, with President Hadley 
on one side and Colonel Bingham on the 
other, passed into the Yale campus, where at 



least five thousand people had formed in 
double line to greet him. Again the silk hat 
was raised; again that typical smile that has 
become a part of our national life! Cheer 
upon cheer arose. The college men were 
assembled in classes; their greetings were in 
old and familiar form. " Breck-kekekex, 
Brekekex; coax, coax!" was the Aiistophanean 
welcome; "Rah! rah! rah! Yale!" the college 
civ of Old Eli. 

Between this double line of boisterous stu- 
dents the President's party passed rapidly 
afoot across the breadth of the campus to 
Alumni Hall. Handing his hat to a relative, 
who stood near him, the President donned his 
mortar-board cap and his black silken gown. 
The cap was of black, with a violet-colored tas- 
sel. The gown bore three broad black velvet 
bars across each sleeve. Xo sooner was His 
Excellency gowned than many old friends 
pressed forward to greet him. 

"Who could have dreamed that the bine of 
old Yale would ever wave in honor of me?" 
said Roosevelt, in my hearing. He spoke of 
his own A/iiki Mater, Harvard, with loving 
pride, but evinced every sign of delight at 
the honor Yale was about to bestow. It was 
a pretty episode and served to pass a pleasant 
quarter hour. Then the procession toward 
the aratewav through Vanderbilt Hall to the 
Hyperion Theatre was quickly formed. Police 
cleared the path. Here and there secret service 
men in broadcloth and duly resetted in bine fell 
into the line. It was a mistake of them not to 
have worn the mortar board; the tall silk hats 
made them look like English mutes at a 
funeral. 

The rapid tramp through Durfee Gateway 
and past old South College to Vanderbilt Hall 
was a scene of continuous ovation. Cap and 
gown had so transformed the young and 
sprightly President of the United States that 
his best friend would hardly have recognized 
him. His hands were gravely clasped across 
his stomach, and the eyes, that are oftenest 
alertly cast upward and everywhere, were 
solemnly upon the ground. lie was as grave 
as a molds; from the Abbey of Eli in the time 
of King Canute. 

In the Summer of 1905, Theodore Roosevelt 
induced two great nations at war, Japan and 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



a 



Russia, to send commissioners to Portsmouth, 
\. II., where a peace was arranged that 
brought to an end the bloodiest conflict in all 
history. The morning sun of sincerity and 
fact dispelled the fog of personal detraction 
and political jealousy then rising over the 
President's conduct as a radical. He has been 
described as "the man militant"; he loomed 
up before all the world as a practical peace- 
maker. 

My acquaintance with William II. Taft 
began while he was Secretary of War. I had 
seen him before hut had not met him. When 
he became President of the Red Cross Society 
of the United States, he took an active part 
in extending the work of that splendid organi- 
zation and his name was a tower of strength 
thereto. At the Ohio Society dinner in New 
York, after his election to the Presidency of 
the United States, I heard him reiterate his 
pledges to carry out "the Roosevelt policies," 
as he described the correction of abuses under 
which the country was suffering. That he 
has tried to keep that pledge, no one can 
doubt. His administration is one of great 
promise, although he has not escaped criticism. 
It is too early to take the measure of his activi- 
ties. Next to Roosevelt's, his name will be 
indissolubly associated with the creation of 
the Panama Canal, the pacification of the 
Philippines and the inauguration of a Colonial 
policy for the United States. 

Forensic ability has secured nominations in 
badly divided national conventions: but never 
has a man famous as an orator attained the 
White House. 

Not going beyond our own memories, most 
of us can recall Stephen A. Douglas. He was 
a much more finished orator than Lincoln. 
lie had studied Webster and Clay, who had 
staked their fates on oratory. They had 
failed of success in their ambitions. Edward 
Everett had tried for the Vice-Presidency. 
But the plain "rail-splitter" of his own state 
swept Douglas out of public life. A. K. Mc- 
Clure said that "Lincoln was nominated by a 
convention in which two-thirds of the dele- 
gates were for Seward." In Lincoln's second 
contest. McClellan wasn't an orator. 

In the struggle between Grant and Seymour, 
the oratory of the Democratic candidate was 



of a mild character; but he had a fine pres- 
ence on the rostrum and spoke with readiness. 

Horace Greeley would have been a fine 
orator hail he possessed a voice; but the high 
falsetto key in which he always spoke at first 
amused and then annoyed his hearers. The 
silent man of Appomattox was elected. 

Tilden was a fine speaker before a court of 
judges sitting in banc, despite his insignificant 
figure. Whether or not be thought himself an 
orator would be hard to guess. But a country- 
man from Ohio, named Hayes, got the White 
House job from him. He was rarely listened 
to with attention when in the House of Rep- 
resentatives. Ben. Butler, "the holy terror," 
dominated that legislative body most of the 
time Hayes was there, and long after. lie 
"sat upon" Garfield and Hayes as if he 
didn't know they were there. Blaine had been 
suggested at Cincinnati, bv Ingersoll, but 
failed of nomination. 

Garfield thought himself an orator, but he 
wasn't. He could talk, as could Benjamin 
Harrison; but there were half a dozen cleverer 
men on the floor of Congress. Hancock was 
a soldier and never made a speech during the 
campaign. The New York Sun disposed of 
him by announcing his weight as 250 pounds. 

The Cleveland-Blaine contest of 1884 
brought to the front the most magnetic orator 
in public life this generation has known. 
Webster may have been more ponderous. 
Clay may have been more logical and schol- 
arly; but Blaine had a voice that delighted 
the ear. He was keen at fence, quick to 
divine a thrust and to anticipate it; popular 
in the same sense as Clay — an all-round bril- 
liant character. And yet he was defeated on 
the verv ground where he ought to have been 
invulnerable. A lot of fussy parsons secured 
an appointment for an audience; their spokes- 
man interjected into his "few remarks" a 
passing reference to "Ruin, Romanism and 
Rebellion" which Blaine didn't hear. A 
World reporter was the only scribe who 
caught the words and printed them. That 
the language was used never was denied; 
but Blaine was caught napping and failed to 
denounce the speaker's attack upon a faith 
to which his own family belonged, lie could 
and would have rebuked Burchard in a way 



74 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



that would have made capital for the candi- 
date h;i<l lie Ween up to his usual mental 
alertness; hut splendid oratory during that 
campaign didn't save Blaine. Cleveland, who 
couldn't he described as an orator by his wild- 
est admirer, was chosen President by a narrow 
popular plurality of 23,005. The Electoral 
College stood 219 to 185. But the orator 
was bowled out, which is what I set out to 
show. 

Benjamin Harrison probably was the near- 
est approach to an orator of any man who 
has gone to the White House in our day. He 
was not regarded as a brilliant talker in the 
Senate, for he was overshadowed by the tra- 
ditions of the place. Conkling had left the 
Chamber, yet he was remembered. So was 
[ngalls. But Harrison while in the Senate 
never attempted an oratorical flight: he did 
not "raise his voice" or speak with impas- 
sioned fervor. He was cold, calm, calculating 
as a ratchet wheel! He was the same when 
President, and after his retirement to private 
lite. Ingersoll understood him and told Har- 
rison the steely truth about himself. Thur- 
man, who was on the ticket with Cleveland, 
had a record lor oratory of the old school, 
hut he went down to defeat. Candidates were 
reversed in 1802, when Cleveland was chosen 
over Harrison, renominated, but oratory, such 
as it was. got a black eye that time. 

William Mckinley wasn't an orator in any 
of the senses that Ingersoll. Blaine and Conk- 
ling were. He prepared his speeches with 
elaborate care and when addressing the House 
always clung to his notes. In my press gallery 
experience between 187? and 1N!M>. I probably 
heard Mckinley speak at length a dozen 
times. He always impressed a listener with 
his earnestness and that is the best to be said 
for his oratory. 

But opposed to him was a born orator. 
This country hasn't known, in our generation, 
anything exactly like Bryan's wonderful mas- 
tery of the human voice. Ingersoll had spurts 
of eloquence; Blaine had much of the sym- 
pathetic quality of voice as Bryan, but neither 
man could stand comparison with the orator 
of the North Platte. I listened to the "Crown 
of Thorns" speech at Chicago — a memorable 



outburst from a dull sky that drove nearly 
every delegate in the Convention Hall to him, 
as a shower in an open held sends a crowd 
scurrying to the nearest shed for shelter. And 
yet. during a trip made with Bryan in his car, 
I heard many finer specimens of true and emo- 
tional oratory than was that wonderful and 
compelling rampage at Chicago. I would 
prize as one of my choicest possessions a 
stenographic copy of a ten-minute speech 
Bryan made from a store box at Logan. O.,— 
a wretched mining town in the southeastern 
section of the Buckeye State. It touched the 
heart of every man. woman and child in the 
crowd. 

But Bryan the orator has thrice walked the 
political plank! 

President Roosevelt is a speechmaker. be- 
yond question; but it is improbable he'd call 
himself an orator. He speaks with extreme, 
energized force. His gestures are tremendously 
forceful. His speech at Philadelphia, second- 
ing Mckinley's nomination, was marred by 
the fact that he lead most of it. Had he mem- 
orized it, that address might have been de- 
scribed as oratory. 

The list of orators who aspired to the Presi- 
dency hasn't been exhausted by any means; 
but with the exceptions of Clay. Webster and 
Lincoln, I have only talked about men I have 
heard speak or have personally known. To 
this class must be added the ponderous, jolly. 
aggressive Thomas B. Reed. Reed thought 
he could hammer himself into the White 
House. He didn't give dinners to get votes,— 
as did Vice-President Fairbanks eight years 
later, — because he hadn't any confidence in a 
culinary campaign. But Joe Manlev never 
could convince him he couldn't get delegates 
by dragooning the House of Representatives 
or by ] Hitting another man in his Speaker's 
chair so that he might go upon the floor and 
"slam things" with his ponderous voice and 
not less terrifying fist. 

Reed got his lesson at St. Louis, on June 
Hi. 1896, when Warwick Hanna "allowed" 
644 votes to be cast for Reed, after Mckinley's 
nomination on the first ballot was assured. It 
is doubtful if Reed ever knew how Hanna did 
the McKinlev trick. Oratorv didn't do it. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER VIII 



CITY EDITOR AND FOREIGN EDITOR 




X MY return from an assign- 
merit one afternoon. I was 
notified I had been appointed 
City Editor. This was in No- 
vember, 1876, and I was not 
26 years of age. One never was 
astonished at good or bad for- 
tune on the Herald: all came *'in the day's 
work."' I took charge at once, succeeding 
Edward Flynn. with W. J. C. Meighan as my 
assistant. The Brooklyn theatre fire occurred 
that night, an event I am never likely to for- 
get. It serves to illustrate the difficulties of 
gathering news at that time, compared with 
the present day — when telephones, taxicabs, 
bridges, subways and rapidly-moving trolley- 
cars are at the service of a city editor and his 
reporters. The fire had been burning an hour 
before I could learn where it was and judge 
its importance. From the roof of the Herald 
building unobstructed in view by skyscrapers 
—the conflagration appeared to be in one of 
the warehouses on the opposite side of the 
river. The Williamsburg man. who had 
come to the office on a ferry-boat, corroborated 
that assumption. If he were right. the Brooklyn 
stall' was competent to take care of the fire. 
Finally, owing to personal anxiety. I sent my 
assistant. Mr. Meighan, across to Brooklyn. 
The ferry ran at quarter-hour intervals and 
thirty precious minutes elapsed before Mei- 
ghan reached the scene. Gathering what 
facts he could, he hastened back knowing, 
by experience, that the important use of news 
is to get it printed. His two-column report 
was masterly. Although the police assured 
him everybody had escaped, he wrote his ac- 
count in the subjunctive mood, so thai if dead 
were discovered he would have predicted the 
calamity. 1 made the heading and ventured 
a line '"Sad Loss of Life!" Next day the 
discovery came that more than three hundred 
people had been burned or suffocated! City 



Editor Shanks, of the Tribune, who lived in 
Brooklyn and was bound homeward, was lirsl 
upon the ground and had rather the best re- 
port in any newspaper. lie had an hour 
longer to work bul did not positively announce 
loss of life! Meighan's work that night caused 
him to be appointed my successor, when I was 
transferred to the Foreign Desk, on the break- 
ing out of the Russo-Turkish war. in the fol- 
lowing year. It was a just reward to him. 

r Fhe Worlds Fair at Philadelphia was of 
inestimable benefit to New York. It brought 
a million visitors during that Summer, 
Western people who never had seen the East. 
It marked the first impulse toward the cultiva- 
tion of a national taste for art. Although 
rude "hayseeds" mutilated valuable statues 
in their curiosity to see whether they were 
stone or plaster, and a few holes were poked 
in rare canvasses by equally crude human 
atoms, the paintings and marbles in Memorial 
Hall. Fairmounl Park, had an enduring in- 
fluence upon the American people. At that 
time, there was nothing like a serious collec- 
tion of art work anywhere in this country. 
Boston hail an art museum and New York 
had the quaint Venetian building at Fourth 
avenue and Twenty-third street, where a few 
good pictures were to be seen; the Metropoli- 
tan Museum of Art. on West Fourteenth street, 
was a joke, although endowed with statuary 
and canvasses from the private collections of 
John Taylor Johnson and Henry Marquand. 
It occupied a building adjoining the presenl 
site of Salvation Army Headquarters. Mod- 
est as was its beginning, it was the progenitor 
of the splendid museum in Central Park, 
which promises to develop into one of the 
great institutions of the world. 

Another artistic impulse that the metropolis 
received from Philadelphia in that year was 
the general use of wall papering. Interior 
walls of the houses of the wealthy had been 



?(i 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



painted or covered with satin; but New Yorkers 
round the homes of the Quaker City, poor and 
rich alike, decorated with paper. There are many 
qualities of wall paper; sonic of the decorative 
attempts were failures: hut the eternal white 
walls to which New Yorkers were accustomed 
gradually disappeared. The poor of New 
York began to paper their own walls, a reform 
that extended even to the tenements. Per- 
sonally. I have always believed painted walls 
and ceilings are best for tenants not naturally 
cleanly, because they can be washed and 
germs of contagious diseases removed. How- 
ever, in l(S?(i. comparatively little was known 
about parasitic diseases, not until 1883 did 
Dr. Koch discover the bacillus of consumption 
and the spirillum of cholera. 

Among the many incidents of my city editor- 
ship, a few may be told. One evening my 
assistant was late in arriving. The hour was 
seven and 1 was alone at the city desk when a 
tall (inure appeared and gazed at me across an 
iron railing. 

"Do you recognize me ?' ' the stranger asked. 

'Yes: you are Henry B. Hyde. President of 
the Equitable Assurance Company." 

"Correct: you can do me a favor. 1 require 
identification at the advertising window, down- 
stairs, where a young man will not take my 
check." 

"I will go down with you," I replied. 

In the counting-room, a chunky, red-headed 
clerk refused to take Mr. Hyde's check for a 
half-page advertisement — something like $.'50(1: 
but he concluded that he "would take a risk 
if Mr. Chambers would indorse the check." 
He reasoned that I might be discharged the 
next day and if the check came back he might 
have to pay it. Thus did 1, on one occasion, 
make one of Mr. Hyde's checks current ! In 
later years, I was a guest of James H. Hyde, 
son of the founder of the Equitable, on a 
coach run from New York to Lakewood and 
heard him tell of the episode. 

Mr. II. B. Hyde wrote all his own advertise- 
ments and personally attended to placing 
them; the Herald in those days gave credit 
to nobody and a clerk who received a check 
in payment did so at his own risk. To me. 
as I mentally recur to it. the incident is de- 
cidedly humorous. Times have changed. 



Another incident of my incumbency of the 
city desk was the re-publication by Appleton 
of the London edition of "A Mad World" 
and the bitter controversy its appearance pro- 
voked with Dr. Brown and the Asylum man- 
agement. In this matter. Mr. Bennett came 
to my support as valiantly as St. Clair McKel- 
way had done in the Eagle four years pre- 
viously. He authorized me to print a re- 
joinder under my official title — an unmistaka- 
ble evidence of good will. 

During this period, I became acquainted 
with Theodore N. Yail, then taking his first 
interest in the Bell telephone, of which he is 
to-day the master spirit. If Professor S. F. B. 
Morse and Judge Alfred Vail "put all the 
world on the wire," Theodore N. Vail, by 
developing the telephone of Prof. Bell into 
a commercial magnitude that compelled a 
consolidation therewith of the largest tele- 
graph corporation of this country, has put 
most of the world on speaking terms. He 
was recently made President of the mightiest 
commercial corporation in the world, with the 
single exception of the United States Steel 
Company. Here's a man I like to talk about! 
Two generations of Vails have witnessed and 
cooperated in the creation of the most profit- 
able and ingenious scientific means of making 
capita] earn dividends that the human mind 
has devised. Second only to the development 
of the steel industry, the telegraph-telephone 
wizardry must long remain the symbol of 
Aladdin's lamp for conjuring fabulous wealth 
from an idea. 

Theodore N. Vail, at the age of 62, absolute 
master of this second mechanical industry of 
the world, had the humble beginning of an 
Ohio farmer's lad: but he enjoyed an excellent 
academic education and his preeminence has 
been attained by gradual but never uncertain 
steps. The secret of triumph in whatever 
he attempted was that he early comprehended 
that his mind had a mechanical, rather than 
professional, bent. Whatever he did was ex- 
ecuted with enthusiasm, as if existence depend- 
ed upon his efficiency. 

The Vails originally came from New Eng- 
land, but there was a colony of the family at 
Morristown, X. J. Theodore's parents sep- 
arated from that group and migrated to Carroll 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



77 



county, Ohio, where, on a farm miles from 
town, July Hi, 1845, tin's hoy was horn. The 
Morristown Vails thought so highly of the 
public schools in their own aristocratic com- 
munity, among the beautiful New Jersey hills, 
that they induced Theodore's parents to send 
the youngster from Ohio to gather what edu- 
cation was to be had. 

After a subsequent academic course, Theo- 
dore began reading medicine under the direc- 
tion of an uncle: hut Judge Alfred Vail's in- 
fluence upon the young man caused him to 
abandon medicine and enter upon the com- 
paratively new branch of electrical science. In 
the same way in which young Judge Vail had 
been of service to Morse. Theodore N. Vail 
was destined to aid Hell and Hubbard at a 
time when help was needed. 

Somewhat similar to the careers of Carnegie 
and Edison, we next hear of young Vail at 
work as telegraphist in New York. So effi- 
cient was he that when the Union Pacific rail- 
road began business, he was offered a position 
as station master and telegraph operator at 
one of the towns on the new line. It was not 
anything to turn the head of a man of 20, 
but Vail went West. When the Government 
began to utilize the new mail route to the 
Pacific coast, transition from telegraphic work 
to railway mail service was natural. For six 
years, with his home in Omaha, young Vail 
made the run as mail clerk between the Mis- 
souri river and Ogden. The efficiency of his 
work attracted attention at Washington. Mail 
by this route was often delivered one or two 
days ahead of that sacked by other clerks, 
because Vail thoroughly informed himself 
regarding the proper places at which to put it 
off his car for best connections. He was 
taken into the office of the General Superin- 
tendent of Railway Mails and in a year's time 
rose to be chief assistant. 

During this period, in November, 1874, I 
first met Theodore X. Vail in the office of 
Postmaster George Fairman, at Philadelphia. 
He was engaged on an investigation of im- 

DO o 

portance; but my long-while friend Fairman 
made us acquainted and friendship has ex- 
isted ever since. 

The Philadelphia Exposition proved to he 
the turning point in many an American career. 



Mr. Vail saw the interesting device of Prof. 
Bell, just as a million other visitors did: but. 
unlike nearly everybody else, he compre- 
hended its future possibilities, if its mechan- 
ism could lie perfected. Herein appeared the 
value of his inherited passion for electrical 
science and he began a serious study of the 
imperfect '"toy." as it was then playfully 
described. 

Several men in this country, especially in 
Boston and Lowell, literally stumbled into 
vast fortunes by "taking chances" m Bell 
Telephone stock about 1876, when its shares 




THEODORE N. VAIL 

were going begging; but Mr. Vail was not one 
of those persons. He studied his subject 
carefully. He foresaw the boundless possibili- 
ties of such an invention; he invested every 
dollar he had saved in the West and held on 
to his shares with grim determination. One 
of his earliest purchases, for about $2,400, 
was a block of stock for which he was ultimate- 
ly offered two round million dollars! Much 
courage was required to hold on. He asso- 
ciated himself with Bell and the inventor's 
father-in-law, Hubbard, and increased his 
holdings in the parent and subordinate com- 
panies. He left the Railway Mail service, 



78 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



after introducing numerous improvements in 
the handling of Idlers en route. Many fea- 
tures in use to-day are due to Mr. \ nil's thor- 
ough stinlv of the demands, carried out before 
he was thirty years of age. First among other 
things, the postal clerks were made to study 
geography. Examinations were held, every 
little while, and ignorance was followed by 
dismissal. Mr. Vail disclaims credit for the 
introduction of the first fast mail trains be- 
tween New York and Chicago, but there is 
good reason for crediting him with the awaken- 
ing that ultimately developed special trains, 
exclusively of mail cars, making the distance 
inside 24 hours. 'The Limited White Mail" 
it was called, because all its cars were white. 
When the experimental stages were past, 
and a reorganization of the Bell corporations 
was effected in 1878, Mr. Vail undertook the 
general management of the company. His 
duties chiefly involved the installation of ex- 
change service in a score of the larger cities of 
this country. The exchange system was un- 
developed and nine years of such work sprin- 
kled Vail's leonine head with gray hairs; but, 
at the end of thai lime, the telephone became 
a commercial success, although the mechan- 
ism left much to be desired. Connections, few 
as the calls were, in comparison with to-day, 
were slow and often indistinct. During this 
time, a discovery was made that copper could 
be drawn into wire cold and its conductivity 
greatly increased thereby. Mr. Vail imme- 
diately adopted the use of copper instead of 
iron wire and reached the turning poinl in 
the problem. Emile Berliner, who first used 
induction coils: Thomas B. Doolittle, discov- 
erer of the possibilities of cold drawn copper 
wire, making "long distance" feasible; .John 
Carly, of the "bridging bell, "and Prof. Bell 
himself all contributed to the development of 
the marvellous device now so familiar to every 
man, woman and child. Personally, I can 
remember that when in Paris, in the summer 
of 1887, one had to talk against a thin pine 
shavingfora transmitter. All these discouraging 
obstacles had to be and were overcome. Bv 
1890, the Bell telephone had acquired reliabil- 
ity and constancy; it had ceased to have freaks 
of non-transmissability, alternating with com- 
plete satisfaction in wholly unaccountable ways. 



The story of the Bell Telephone for the 
first twenty-five years is wholly one of build- 
ing and re-building; of pulling down machin- 
ery not worn out to set in its place something 
better and more expensive. The entire Xew 
York plant was rebuilt three times in sixteen 
years. By 1SS? there was no difficulty in 
securing the necessary capital. It responded 
easily, whereas in the early days it was dif- 
ficult to find. As late as 1896, when an ap- 
parently final type of apparatus was in use, 
an entire revolution in the methods of oper- 
ating appeared. The common battery switch- 
board was installed; one central battery super- 
seded hundreds of tiny local batteries, but the 
art of operating had to he relearned! In 
1887, Xew York had talked to Boston over 
a $70, 000 line of copper wire; by 1892 talking 
was in progress between Chicago and the 
metropolis over 1,000 miles of wire. To-day 
tin' average number of daily calls in Greater 
New York is 1,500,000! 

Theodore \. Vail, who had become presi- 
dent in 1885, was the first efficient organizer 
of the telephone business. To him more than 
to any other man is due the creation of (he 
immense Bell system with its 7,000.000 'phones 
and its 11,000,000 miles of wire. In New 
York, he established the first successful com- 
pany, raised the capital, developed the suburbs 
and put the wires under ground. The value 
of the telephone to business had been demon- 
strated. It now became a question of building 
machines with sufficient rapidity and expand- 
ing the exchanges. Trade had monopolized 
its use. but society began to demand its in- 
stallation in residences. 

Having an ample fortune, vast beyond the 
wildest dream of an Ohio farmer's son, Mr. 
Vail retired from the general management and 
devoted several years to travel. Especially 
was he delighted with a long stay in Italy. 
After enjoying Europe thoroughly, he crossed 
the Atlantic at its narrowest point to Buenos 
Aires, and, then visiting, en mute, the chief 
cities of Brazil, returned to Xew York. 

While in Argentina, however, he had done 
two characteristic things. His mind naturally 
saw everything through eyes of electrical pos- 
sibility. Visiting the inland city of Cordoba, 
he beheld an immense reservoir built by 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



79 



damming up a valley, for the irrigation of an 
arid plain; but over the crest of this dam 
thousands of tons of water power were run- 
ning to waste every hour. Mr. Vail had no 
difficulty in leasing the use of the waste water 
and. installing turbines sufficient to consume 
it, he built a station for dynamos at the reser- 
voir. In a few months, he was supplying 
light, traction and power for manufacturing 
uses to the neighboring city! 'This was one 
of the earliest revelations to South Americans 
of the capacities of "white coal." Their minds 
comprehended that what they had been wast- 
ing was sufficient to light their houses and 
streets, to draw their street-cars and to turn 
the wheels of their manufactories! When he 
returned to the capital of Argentina, Mr. Vail 
bought a wretched little horse-car line, tra- 
versing some of the principal thoroughfares, 
lie secured it for a trifle, to him, but he could 
see that it was the key to the entire future 
trolley system of Buenos Aires. As a matter 
of fact, iie forgot this purchase for nearly two 
years, so completely satisfied was he with the 
Cordoba experiment. He bought a farm near 
Lyndenville, Vt., on his return to tin- United 
States, and settled down to enjoy the life of a 
country farmer. Thus did early environment 
assert its influence over a brain of unusual 
activity. He kept adding to the original 700 
acres, until to-day the Vail ranch is nearly II 
square miles in area and contains 7,000 
acres. But that is another story. 

The retired capitalist had three years' ex- 
perience raising corn at $5 per ear and keep- 
ing cows that gave milk worth a dollar a 
quart. He enjoyed it, and often drove his 
fine horses across the Canadian frontier as 
far as good roads lasted; but one uight, seated 
in his library reading "On a Margin," the 
"old feeling" came over him. He remembered 
the little horse-railroad in Buenos Aires! Next 
day he was on a train for New York. He sent 
for a few friends. A pool was arranged, and 
on the steamer which sailed for the River 
Plate, a week later, was Theodore X. Vail, 
full of enthusiasm of youth. He arrived un- 
ostentatiously. He appeared not to have any 
business on his mind; but in a month's time 
he had either bought, or effected a traffic agree- 
ment with, ten other small roads in the big 



city. These he consolidated and electrified. 
Time was necessary, but it passed pleasantly. 
Mr. Vail formed the acquaintance of all the 
financially strong Britons in the city, having 
in mind a future utilization of their wealth. 
All the dynamos, rails and cars were ordered 
by cable from sources that could supply them 
with greatest promptitude. In eighteen 
months, the traction system of Buenos Aires 
had been revolutionized. The earning capa- 
bilities of the consolidated companies were ob- 
vious. Their manager did not have to wail 
long until he was approached by English capi- 
talists, and at a big, round profit to all original 
stockholders, especially to the promoter, they 
were allowed to purchase. 

Again back to the farm, with three-quar- 
ters of a million more funds than before leav- 
ing. This time he was bound to stay out of 
business! Everything that mortal man could 
desire was his. But sad days were in store 
for him. His only son. who had completed 
a course at Harvard and was the pride of his 
father, sickened and died. In 1!)()4, the de- 
voted wife who had married him in ISO!), when 
he was a station agent at a desolate post on 
the North Platte, and had shared his travels 
as well as his successes, was taken from him. 
These two blows shook the strong man ter- 
ribly. When, therefore, the American Tele- 
phone Company, in which Mr. \ ail's interests 
were large, had become so overgrown that 
complete overhauling was necessary, the direc- 
tors and stockholders, headed by United 
States Senator Crane, of Massachusetts, asked 
Theodore N. Vail to again take the laboring 
oar. lb' exacted many conditions. One of 
his earliest coups was a consolidation of many 
telegraphic and telephone interests into one 
gigantic corporation, which in amount of 
capital is only exceeded by the United States 
Steel Company. There he is to-day. dividing 
his time between the New York and Boston 
offices and his Vermont farm, with which he 
is connected by a special copper wire thai 
hasn't a "cut in" anywhere in its 400 miles. 

Who can say that the telephone doesn't make 
talkr A special report issued recently by the 
Bureau of the Census shows that in 1910 
about 14,500,000 miles of telephone wires in 
the United States were used in the transmis- 



so 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



sion of more than 12,000,000,000 messages or 
"talks." The growth of the telephone has been 
the most prodigious spectacle in modern 
science. In 1880 there were in use only 
34,305 miles of telephone wire; in 1890 the 
mileage had increased to '-240.41 '•2. These fig- 
ures are approximate only. Improvement in 
mechanism and the demonstrated usefulness 
of the now familiar and indispensable instru- 
ment resulted in an increase in wire mileage 
to 4.900.451 in 1902. Five years witnessed a 
growth to 8,098,918 miles. The number of 
communicating instruments in use, 1907. were 
(i.l 18,578. A near guess estimates the amount 
paid by the American people alone for the use 
of telephone service last year at $2:55.000.000. 
Of tlu> six million 'phones in use in 1907. 
685,512 were in Xew York State. That 
number has been increased 50 percent, within 
the past four years. This showing does not 
represent the extent of the use to which the 
wonderful machine is put. Thousands of 
systems are installed in hotels, apartment 
houses, clubs, factories, offices and large 
private houses, for use exclusively within 
their confines. Police telephone boxes are 
familiar objects upon the streets of most 
cities. Many railways are operated by tele- 
phone orders instead of by telegraph. Thirty- 
five years ago the telephone was regarded as 
an interesting scientific toy; to-day it has be- 
come a commercial and household necessity. 

The combination of the American Tele- 
phone Company with the Western Union 
Telegraph Company was a very natural one. 
Electricity is the active agent in both enter- 
prises. Xo student of electrical science in 
this country can give instinct ion to President 
Vail in this marvellous branch of modern 
science. He has been nurtured on that cur- 
rent since boyhood. 

The aim of President Vail is to supply uni- 
versal service. As a first step he is bending 
every energy toward giving Transcontinental 
communication, that is, speech between Xew 
York and San Francisco. The Xew York- 
Denver circuit, opened about two years ago, 
lias a length of over 2,000 miles; that is to 
say, it is more than twice the length of the 
line to Xew York or St. Louis. When the 
Denver circuit was opened, it was regarded as 



the limit of telephonic communication; but 
to-day the human voice can be distinguished 
as readily at that distance as between this city 
and Washington. It was a long step from 
Chicago to Denver; an even longer stride of 
1,350 miles is required to carry the service 
into the city at the Golden Gate. 

Mr. Bennett's yachting experience was of 
value to him. as an incident will show. 

"What's the most important news to- 
night.'" he asked, one evening, when I was 
on the city desk. 

"A National Line steamer has arrived with 
the captain, crew and passengers of ' L'Amer- 
ique ' -nobody lost." I replied. 

"What are the circumstances!'" he asked, 
with animation. 

' The engines of the French boat broke 
down; Captain Lamaria, her commander, 
hoisted signals of distress, and. when the Brit- 
ish steamer came along, abandoned his ship. 
Captain Queen, of the British boat, put a 
prize crew aboard the derelict with orders to 
sail her to Queenstown. Then the French- 
man wanted to return to his ship and resume 
command; but the Britisher wouldn't permit 
1 1 i in to do so. So 'Frenchv' is hot mad and 
swears he'll have the Englishman's commis- 
sion taken from him." 

"That's a good story!" exclaimed Mr. Ben- 
nett, having listened, attentively. " Xow, what 
do you think about it.' Did the Englishman 
do right in stopping Lamaria's return.- Will 
he be sustained !'" 

Here was a perilous question of commercial 
as well as international law. but I took an even 
chance and boldly replied : 

"Captain Queen is undoubtedly right; the 
sea belongs to no man, and property onee 
abandoned thereon goes to the finder." 

"You're right!" exclaimed Mr. Bennett; 
"and I'll tell you why I know— ' and he 
told the following characteristic story: 

" I had a party of friends on the ' Dauntless.' 
Becalmed off the Isle of Wight, we drifted on a 
bar. Tide was at the ebb and we were due 
to stay there for several hours. Somebody 
suggested we could shoot snipe ashore; and, 
taking guns, we left the yacht in the cutter. 
The sailing master asked to go ashore in the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



SI 



dingy also, as he wanted to make some pur- 
chases. The yacht was virtually in charge of 
the steward. This fellow thought a lot of me 
and wanted to do me a good turn: so, when he 
saw a tug coming up the Solent, he hailed her, 
took a line and had my boat pulled off the bar 
into deep water. The captain of that tug at 
once libelled the yacht for salvage: the good 
intentions of my steward cost me 1,200 
pounds! That's why 1 know your opinion 
is correct. The Herald must stand by the 
Englishman, because he's right. Have an 
editorial written saying this — " and he out- 
lined the leading article for the night. 

It is impossible to omit mention of the 
encounter between Bennett and May. A 
young Marvlander. named Fred. Mnv, nursing 
a real or fancied affront, lav in wait for the 
editor in front of the Union Club and when 
Bennett appeared, struck him with a whip. 
Mr. Bennett's valor on the occasion never 
was questioned. A meeting was arranged, 
but accurate details of the affair did not be- 
come public until many months later. 1 was 
city editor at the time, and after the managing 
editor. Tom Connery, had declined to give 
any orders, I reported the arrest and trial of 
the seconds, exactly as if the editor of the 
journal had not been concerned. 

With that encounter at Delmar, on the 
Delaware and Maryland line, Mr. Bennett's 
American career terminated. lie returns to 



liis native land occasionally, but his life is 
lived in Paris, where he is universally popular 
with the French people. 

A U-w days before the final preparations for 
blowing up the Hell Gate reef, I visited the 
workings under the river with a parly of en- 
gineers. At the completion of the trip, a 
group of wet and chilled enthusiasts assem- 
bled in the office of Chief-Engineer Newton 
at Ilallet's Point. Astoria. Several kinds of 
restoratives were offered. General Shaler 
stood at one side of me and ( reneral Mc( lellan 
on the other. As happened, General Newton 
set a bottle before me and I was about to pour 
out a dose of medicine when the former Com- 
mander of the Army of the Potomac spoke: 

"Put the cork in the bottle and turn it up- 
side down; then shake it!" 

"Wherein is the philosophy?" I asked. 

'The best whiskey has some fusil oil." 
answered General McClellan. "It is a poison 
and floats upon the top. Unless you shake 
a bottle that has been standing, as this one 
has, you get most of it. If you shake it. you 
divide with the next man." 

When the great mass of water and rock 
rose high into the air. on the memorable Sun- 
day of the blast, I witnessed it from the lower 
end of Ward's Island. A tremendous wave 
was created that I narrowly escaped by run- 
ning to higher ground. Many sightseers were 
thoroughly wet. 




82 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER IX 



AN ERA OK WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENT 




]HE acquisition of money is the 
business of the world. 

Wall street was well known 
to me. I had served an ap- 
prenticeship there, as a Tribune 
reporter, during which time— 
by a most unusual courtesy of 
the Board of Governors — I was given a card 
that admitted me to the floor of the Stock 
Exchange. Due to this experience, in the 
years that followed, upon the Herald. I was 
assigned to describe nearly all the panics that 
occurred in the financial centre — beginning 
with the Jay Cooke failure of 1873 and includ- 
ing several that were wholly local in their 
effects. Nearly every prominent broker of 
that period was personally known to me. 
When Summer came I received invitations 
from yacht owners like the Osgoods, William 
Garner, William P. Douglas, Captain Loper, 
and several others to make the annual cruise 
on their boats all impossible to accept. 1 
recall the Ilarriman of those days and did not 
foresee that he would become even a mightier 
financial giant than Jay Gould or Henry X. 
Smith. The introduction of the stock ticker, 
a crude affair at first, revolutionized the busi- 
ness of Wall street. The stock list, as printed 
in the daily papers, began to increase in 
length, but it grew downward. like the rank 
ami noxious upas tree. Daily transactions 
rarely exceeded a quarter million shares. 
With the ticker, as finally developed, record 
of sales were simultaneously conveyed directly 
into a hundred brokers' offices, where cus- 
tomers could sec them and make their wagers. 
The banks were developing strength. They 
loaned money to brokers, taking listed stocks 
as collateral for repayment. 

The Xew York Stock Exchange celebrated 
its centenary on May 17, 1892. Twenty-five 
residents of Xew York had met on that same 
dav. 1792, under a tall buttonwood tree, stand- 



ing where (>() Wall street now is and agreed 
thus: "We do hereby solemnly promise and 
pledge ourselves to each other that we will not 
buy or sell from this day for any person what- 
soever, any kinds of public stocks at less than 
one-quarter of one per cent, commission on 
the specie value thereof, and that we will give 
a preference to each other in our negotiations." 
The price of a seat on that exchange in 1823 
was $25; in 1863, .$.'5. 000: in 1892, $35,000: 
and in 1909, $90,000. 

Dining the Summer of IS??, a slim, healthy 
skinned man of medium height, alert and 
wary, if one might judge from his eyes, came 
across the Continent in a private car. He was 
:>!) years of age and had been born in England. 
When 14 years old, his parents had taken him 
to California, where he had grown up amid 
the excitement of the days succeeding the gold 
fever of l<S4i). Whether the journey to the 
Golden Gate was made by Panama or across 
the plains, I never have known, but young 
James Robert Keene early developed a pas- 
sion for commercial life. He tried practical 
mining in California and Nevada, hut the 
early Seventies found him employed in a 
brokerage house of San Francisco. What 
capital he had accumulated as a miner and 
as a speculator, he held in readiness for the 
great coup that offered when the Bonanza 
mines were discovered in Nevada. With the 
same courage he has ever since displayed, 
young Keene, then little more than 30, hazarded 
his entire capital on Virginia, Hale & Nor- 
cross and Ophir shares. When these stocks 
began to soar toward high prices, Keene dis- 
regarded all advice to take moderate profits. 
Xot only did he hold on, hut borrowing upon 
his already appreciated possessions, bought 
more shares. He closed out very near top 
prices and found himself the possessor of 
more than $6,000,000 cash. He then rested 
for a time, making a voyage to Japan, by way 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



83 



of Hawaii. On his return, he was chosen 
President of the San Francisco Stock Ex- 
change. When he thought the time ripe, he 
transferred his money to New York, and. 
harkening to the call of the American metropo- 
lis, took train for the East. 

Remarkable success achieved by this man, 
previously unknown to New York, made him 
an object of exceptionable solicitude. He was 
"interviewed," willy nilly, at every large city 
through which his train passed. His efforts 
to escape publicity were ignored, because, in 
1877, six millions in cash were tenfold greater 
in amount than they would be thought to-day! 
With the exception of the Astors and Vander- 
bilts, few men in the East possessed anything 
like such an amount of money. Eight years 
after that time, when Moses Taylor died and 
left $10. 000. 000, the commercial world stood 
aghast. One can easily understand, there- 
fore, why this comparatively young Anglo- 
American was an object of interest. The 
large operators of Wall street, men who had 
amassed big bunches of money by "doing" 
each other, regarded the new comer as lawful 
prey. Several of them said so. Others, less 
talkative, were not less hopeful or willing to 
relieve him of his money. 

Things went smoothly for the man from the 
Golden Gate at first. He made several fine 
"turns" that would have done credit to Henry 
X. Smith or Mr. Gould. For ten years. Mr. 
Keene held his own against the cleverest of 
his rivals on that "Barbary Coast." Some- 
times he grappled with them single handed; 
at other times he met them in echelon or in 
platoon, — euphemisms for "cabal" or "syn- 
dicate." In May. 1884. a combination of 
nearly a score of the wiliest financial buc- 
caneers on the coast. — said without intentional 
offence, — caught Keene in a grain deal and 
"trimmed him proper," according to the 
ethics of the locality. 

About this time. I came to know James R. 
Keene. By curious fatality, although I had 
been well acquainted with "bare-headed" 
Ilarriman. as the afterward monarch of the 
Street was known during the Seventies, be- 
cause he rarely wore a hat when "hustling" 
between the board-room and his office. I had 
not encountered "The Man from California." 



1 met him in the days of his adversity. I had 
known Stockwell when he was the heaviest 
trader in the market and after he had been 
"done." But here was a very different kind 
of man. If ever any human creature, deceived 
by false friends who gloated over his downfall. 
were entitled to inscribe as his motto, "felix 
adverso" (happy in adversity), that man is 
James R. Keene. Xo mortal creature knew 
exactly how badly he was crippled. Mosl 




JAMES R. KEENE 



III 



people thought hun "down and out. His 
former cronies, for many of whom he had 
made moderate fortunes, had no further use 
for him. I have seen him sitting alone in the 
Broadway coiner of the Delmonico cafe, then 
at Twenty-sixth street, when not a man who 
had known him appeared to lie conscious of 
the fact. Those must have been terrible years. 



S4 



THE HOOK nf NEW YORK 



Once or twice, when I had the candor to ap- 
proach and sit with him a few minutes, I left 
Mr. Keene with a doubt as to whether my 
sincere good will was desired or understood. 
Hut he became to me an ideal hero of com- 
mercial life. During this darkest period I 
published a column describing the courage 
necessary for a Fabian policy such as this 
man obviously was playing. Without men- 
tioning him, I told how his schemes had been 
ambushed by misleading information; how 
the bugle had sounded for the charge, wound 
by a close associate that afterward claimed a 
personal triumph. 1 told how this man had 
ridden into the valley of financial death, only 
to escape alive with the utter destruction of 
his fortune. 

Every operator in the Street understood 
the metaphors and the allegories. I received 
a note from Mr. Keene expressing sincere 
appreciation. A tie was formed that no in- 
fluence has been able to weaken in the twenty 
years that have followed. Another human 
bond between us cropped out in the discovery 
that I had been with Commodore Foxhall 
Parker during the five weeks' Naval drill in 
Florida Hay. Spring of 1874. Commodore 
Parker was Mr. Keene's uncle; his only son 
is named Foxhall in honor of that distin- 
guished officer. 

James R. Keene began his new and far 
more brilliant career about 1896. His com- 
manding genius as a manipulator of the 
market brought to him several of the mightiest 
financial combinations in America. The 
Standard ( )il Company employed him to sell 
its copper properties. J. P. Morgan called 
upon him in some of his greatest emergencies. 
A\ hile other large operators were buying stocks 
in thousand share lots, Keene would trade 
daily in fifty to one hundred thousand shares 
through a dozen brokers! I used to call at his 
office occasionally, to find him in a darkened 
room on the sixth floor of the Johnston build- 
ing giving cipher orders over half a dozen 
telephone wires. A glance at the tape, from 
time to time, serves to keep him thoroughly 
informed regarding the course of the market. 
If his blow is not being properly delivered, 
the ticker warns him. It speaks a language 
he understands. Then the lover of literature 



becomes a man of action. Orders to buy are 
doubled, or doubled again. If he be "a bear," 
stocks are poured into the Exchange as from 
a hopper! Such is the story of five hours of 
five days in the week. Saturday is almost no 
day, being only two hours long, commercially. 

Rut the time to enjoy meeting James R. 
Keene is in the evening, after he has dined 
and while he is converting a large cigar into 
smoke. Then he is as thoroughly divorced 
from business as if he were on a yacht in 
midocean. In a room on the tenth floor of the 
Waldorf-Astoria, surrounded by every luxury 
that money can supply, and with direct tele- 
phonic connection to all the centers of trade 
and information, sits this remarkable man, 
whose name is upon thousands of tongues every 
day and who is credited with influencing the 
most enormous financial policies. He is in- 
accessible to those unknown to him. but al- 
ways within reach of people he trusts. 

Mr. Keene loves speculation as a bull-dog 
loves fight. He handled the gigantic Amal- 
gamated Copper coup lor the Standard Oil 
speculators; and on that desperate day when 
Harriman and Hill fought for control of the 
Northern Pacific and Wall Street went mad, 
it was J. P. Morgan who threw Keene into 
the inferno and brought out a victory for the 
Hill forces. Mr. Keene more than regained 
his fortune in that famous "bull panic" of 
May, 1901, when the titanic struggle for the 
control of the Northern Pacific occurred be- 
tween E. II. Harriman and James J. Hill. 
Shares of the railroad that had "broken" 
Jay Cooke & Co. in IN?.'}, and had sold in 
open market as low as $.'5, soared to $1,00(1. 
The "Bonanza" experience was repeated! 
Mr. Keene had plenty of long stock and did 
not hesitate to let it go. Hut this financier 
has a very human side. One Winter, when 
laid up in his apartment at the Waldorf- 
Astoria with a broken knee-cap, he conducted 
a good campaign. The day was bitterly cold 
and the whistling winds at times drowned the 
sound of the ticker. He looked out his win- 
dow and saw a poorly clad woman shivering 
on the street. Turning to his secretary he 
said, abruptly: 

"Spend $20,000 m the next twenty-four 
hours on people who are cold and hungry!" 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



85 



He then added: "And tell the hoys not to ask 
any fool questions when they give the money." 

Mr. Keene is intensely fond of polities, 
an ardent admirer of President Roosevelt 
and a believer in the future value of the Philip- 
pines. Speaking of the results of the war in 
the Far East, he said among many other things: 
"The triumph of Japan over Russia in 
Manchuria will change commercial and finan- 
cial conditions throughout the civilized world. 
Japan will ultimately become one of the 
wealthy nations of the earth. Having risen in 
two years to the place accorded a power of the 
first class, her Mikado and Counsellors know 
that eternal vigilance alone can maintain the 
splendid preeminence achieved by their Army 
and Navy. Their energy will not abate. 

"Naturally, the Japanese are intoxicated 
with ambition. They will extend Japan's 
sphere of influence along the entire Asian 
coast. Japan will solve the problem of China's 
future. Although the density of the popu- 
lation in the Flowery Kingdom may be ex- 
agge rated, there are' more than 200,000,000 
Chinese. In its large cities are stores of 
wealth that have been accumulating for cen- 
turies. These riches will now find outlet, and 
a large share of the money received therefor 
will be employed under Japan's direction, for 
China's betterment. Railroads, cotton- and 
woolen-mills will be built by Japanese en- 
gineers and architects and machinists. Re- 
fore many years, a lethargic, moody race of 
mankind will be converted into a nation of 
manufacturers, tradesmen and mechanics. The 
possibilities of agriculture in the Middle 
Kingdom are endless. Almost every name- 
able cereal, fruit and vegetable can be grown 
somewhere in the broad expanse of the ( 'hinese 
Empire. Cotton, coffee, tea and rice flourish 
in the southern provinces. China will not 
need any prompting from Japan to ask: 
'Why should our people buy cotton or woolen 
goods from England or the United States.-' 
That's what the 'Boycott' we hear so much 
talked about means. China has already awak- 
ened. The example of Japan's rise to a posi- 
tion of dignity among nations has not been 
lost upon the teeming millions of China. If 
a 'Yellow Peril' ever develop for US, owing 
to our ownership of the Philippines, it will be 



equally grave to France, England and Ger- 
many, because of their possessions upon the 
eastern coast of Asia." 

Love of the thoroughbred horse has been 
one of James R. Kcene's most marked char- 
acteristics. When the racing season was on. 
lie would leave a rising or a falling market to 
hurry to Sheepshead Ray. Gravesend, or. later. 
Belmont Park to witness performances of his 
horses. For more than a decade, he main- 
tained the largest racing stable in the United 
States. He was Vice-President of the West- 
chester Racing Association that managed 
Morris Park, before it was abandoned to the 
growth of the city. To this day Mr. Keene 
has a splendid stud farm at Castleton in the 
"blue-grass region" of Kentucky, which he 
frequently visits for rest and recreation. Mr. 
Keene has owned several monarchs of the 
American turf, among them probablj the great- 
est horse ever bred in this country, the un- 
forgetable Svsonby. This great animal, with 
an unbeaten record of two seasons, died of a 
sudden illness. Other famous horses belong- 
ing to the Keene stable were: Foxhall, bred in 
Kentucky and bought as a yearling for $650, 
sent abroad and won the Grand Prix at Long- 
champs in 1881. In the same year, this horse 
ran second in England to the great Ren d'Or 
at the City and Suburban; also in the Cezare- 
witch, carrying 121 pounds. Domino won 
$191,780 in 1893; Mr. Keene's stable win- 
nings that year were $279,458, an amount un- 
precedented on the American turf. Also may 
be mentioned Disguise, Cap and Bells, Com- 
mando, Charconac, Colin, Peter Pan, Super- 
man, Celt, Pope Joan and Veil. In his early 
racing days, Air. Keene owned Spendthrift, 
Dan Sparling and Dutch Roller. 

During the year of the war in the Far East. 
Mr. Keene named his colts after Japanese 
warriors and diplomats. "Kuroki" was one 
of the yearlings. 'Togo" was another. There 
was sentiment in this matter. Few people 
knew that Mr. Keene had lived about a year 
in Japan and found his stay beneficial to his 
health. The visit was made after his amazing 
coup in Bonanza mining stock and before he 
came Fast to live. In other respects, beside 
his love of horses. Mr. Keene is exceptional 
among Wall Street men. He is a great 



86 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



reader, I might say, a constant student. 
Calling at his hotel suite during the Russo- 
Japanese War,I found him immersed in astudy 
of Russian history. He felt a deep interesl 

in the two countries, then at each other's 
throats, beyond any effect the conflict might 
have upon the stock market. He followed 
everv step of Marshal Oyama's advance into 
Manchuria on a large map. fixing the locations 
of each division of the two great armies by 
white- and black-headed pins. 

A hull movement of 1SD4 never has been 
explained until now. The Cherokee Nation 
sold its lands to the Government, in order that 
they lie thrown open for settlement: the 
Cherokee Strip, as tin- reservation was known. 

was purchased for $8,000,1 payable in 

twenty-year bonds. A committee of their 
people brought these bonds to New \ ork to 
convert them into cash. The Cherokees. 
dwindled under the drastic erosion of civiliza- 
tion from a mighty nation to a few thousand. 
became homeless! They were poor in land, 
but wondrously rich in pocket! In the future, 
the chase would be a thing unknown: the 
tepee and the wigwam only a nebulous men- 
tal vision. 

The Cherokees. literally driven into civil- 
ization, were better prepared for such a fate 
than any other native people: they had been a 
self-governing nation for a century and a half. 
During all those years, in their native sim- 
plicity, they escaped the sordid side of human 
life, never knew the sleepless nights entailed 
by anxieties of trade. Their's had been a 
quiet, peaceful existence, but now. like other 
members of the Indian races, they were no 
longer to starve on reservations, to be de- 
frauded by Government agents, robbed by 
trader- and physically injured by bad 
whiskey and other accompaniments of our 
civilization. They had had enough of these 
things. They did not kill agents or destroy 
home- of the whites, but sought retributive 
justice in a more potent and effective manner. 
Just as the Romans, at the end of the 18th 
century, set out to reconquer Gaul — as Napo- 
leon with his Italian follower- redeemed 
France from herself: as the artists, poets, 
litterateurs and statesmen of Southern France 
nearly all Italian in blood and sympathy 



invaded Paris, giving to French statesmanship 
Leon Gambetta, to prose literature Alphonse 
Daudet and Guy de Maupassant and to 
poetiy Mistral — so came the Cherokees to the 
financial centre of the continent, loaded with 
wealth and firm of purpose, to grapple with 
the commerce of the world! Would it not be 
a strange ethnological picture if the former 
owners of the Cherokee Strip, pushed to the 
wall and robbed of their rights, dominated 
the trade of the East and reestablished the 
supremacy of the red race on this continent? 

Their whole history has been marked by the 
courage of forbearance. Patience, in the 
supreme effort to maintain good fellowship 
with white neighbors, ha- been the dominating 
characteristic of their history. Aye. they have 
a history which is readily traceable as far back 
as the end of the thirteenth century. 

Dr. Brinton. the best living authority on the 
Indian races, identities the Lenapes with the 
Cherokees. He declares that ( 'herokee history 
goes back to the Mound Builders. The ( hero- 
kees were driven from the Delaware to the 
Alleghanies, where they dwelt about 1540; 
thence west to the Ohio, whence they were 
forced in 1700; thence southward to North 
Carolina ami Georgia, and then expatriated 
to a dreary reservation in the unexplored 
Western wilderness. They left behind them. 
all along their trail, evidence of their gentle 
and relatively humane character. Their tumuli 
abound in soapstone pipes, showing that the 
( herokee- belonged to the noble army of smok- 
ers — were the precursors of all followers in the 
wake of Sir Walter Raleigh. That they dwelt 
in Central Ohio is evident from the fact that 
the name Cherokee is fastened upon many 
villages and streams therein. Perhaps this i- 
one reason why their fate and their future 
appeal -o strongly to me. A- a boy I knew 
their graves. I -warn in a (herokee creek and 
often visited one of the many villages named 
""Cherokee." 

The system of government enjoyed by the 
Cherokee Nation always was democratic. As 
early a- 17:5o. Sir Alexander dimming, a 
special commissioner sent by Kim.: George, 
found the (herokee Nation then established 
in Georgia , a government of seven Mother 
Towns, each of which chose a chief to preside 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



81 



over its people. This local ruler was elected 
out of certain families by popular ballot, and 
the descent was always on the mother's side. 
These Mother Towns sent a deputation to 
London on His British Majesty's ship "Fox," 
in May of that year. With them went the 
crown of the Cherokee Nation, an emblematic 
evidence of their national organization, and it 
was tangibly laid at the feet of the British 
King in token of complete submission to the 
then Home Government across the sea. In 
June. lS.'iO. one hundred years afterward to 
a month, another delegation of the Cherokees 
visited Washington to protest against the laws 
that the State Legislature of Georgia had im- 
posed upon them. This body of intelligent 
native Americans consulted Chief Justice 
Marshall. Chancellor William Wirt, Justice 
McLane, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay- 
all immortal names — and Mr. Wirt took their 
case before the United States Supreme Court. 
He made one of the greatest speeches of his 
life on the Cherokee question, in which oc- 
curred the memorable words, often quoted: 

"We may gather laurels on the held of bat- 
tle and trophies on the ocean, but they will 
never hide this foul blot on our national es- 
cutcheon. 'Remember the Cherokee Nation!' 
will be answer enough by any foreign rival to 
the largest boast we can make." 

It is history that the Government treated 
these Indians just as it has other natives. It 
jockeyed them, just as a gypsy horse trainer 
might have done. The expatriation of the 
Cherokees soon followed, and on March 14, 
1836 — against a written request signed by 
15,000 out of the 18.000 Cherokees this noble 
and peaceful people were sent far beyond the 
Mississippi to a land of desolation and star- 
vation, so distant from all existing channels of 
communication with the rest of humanity that 
it was doubtful if they would ever again 
emerge. A great race appeared to have ended 
its career in despair and gloom! 

But the end had not come. With them they 
took a civilization infinitely superior to that 
existing among the whites of the frontier. In 
their Georgia homes, which they had left in 
tears and under protest, they enjoyed the ben- 
efits of schools: they had set up a native press, 
and. as early as 1828, had published The 



Cherokee Phoenix. This journal was printed 
in a syllabic language, invented by one of their 
own people. We have only to read Foster's 
charming biography of this unlettered savage, 
who invented an alphabet and started the 
Cherokee people on the way to their present 
high state of civilization, to realize how far in 
advance they were of the border ruffians and 
Mexican bandits among whom they were 
thrown, to survive or perish as fate might 
decree. 

But the Cherokees did not perish! They 
became an agricultural people; they converted 
thousands of square miles of sage brush and 
sunburned heather into green and smiling 
meadows and productive farms. They re- 
established schools. Under the leadership of 
Boudinot and Bushyhead, they organized a 
thoroughly equipped representative govern- 
ment, with its Senate and Lower House, sitting 
at Talequah, and over it they chose the able 
Bushyhead as President Chief. The Phoenix 
rose from its ashes and was edited by Elias 
Boudinot. one of the most charming and lov- 
able men it has ever been my fortune to meet. 

Every old Washington correspondent re- 
members his tall figure, his beautifully mod- 
eled features, his long and carefully kept hair. 
The late Edward King has made him a part 
of our literature in his delightful novel entitled 
"A Gentle Savage." For years, at regular 
intervals, he was a well-known figure at Wil- 
lard's, admired and respected by everybody 
who enjoyed his acquaintance. He was famil- 
iar with all the methods of legislation at 
Washington, and so long as he acted for the 
Cherokee Nation its interests were thoroughly 
protected. 

Of the legislation culminating in the pur- 
chase of the Cherokee Strip 1 dislike to speak. 
Beyond question, that peace-loving and in- 
dustrious people were forced to part with their 
lands. It is an insufficient answer to this sad 
fact to assert that they received a fair price for 
their property, and to argue that the greatest 
good to the greatest number justifies the final 
extinction of this people as an independent 
nation. It is true that land can be bought in 
other sections of the West, notably along the 
lines of transcontinental travel, at a less price 
than $1. 25 per acre, but the Cherokees were 



88 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



virtually forced to take that sum or have their 
lands forcibly intruded upon by squatters, 
who would have maintained possession with 
knife and gun. For good or for ill. thev 
finally accepted the terms offered by the 
Government. The sum in bonds was $8,000,- 
000 for more than (i. 000. 0(10 acres! A depu- 
tation from the Cherokee Nation discounted 
these bonds in New York for $6,800,000, most 
of which went into Wall Street. Notoriously, 



the natives were enormous winners; they 
nearly doubled their money. That vast sum 
is well invested, according to the romance- 
history of Wall Street, and will reappear in 
the market one of these days; handled by a 
mind like that of a Keene or a Rockefeller, 
it will make of the defrauded Cherokees the 
financial rulers of this country. 



Ah! That would 
conquest of the East! 



be an aboriginal re- 




THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



89 



CHAPTER X 



AMONG THE FORGOTTEN 




OW many of us have visited a 
poor farm in the country.' 

When I lived in a traveling 
bag, so to speak, and was hur- 
ried to all sorts of places at 
every hour of the day or night, 
a rush order to Schoharie. There 
a revolt among the inmates of the 
poor-farm of that county — a paupers' rebel- 
lion, almost. The forsaken dwellers in that 
land of the forgotten had, in some manner, 
communicated with the State Commissioner 
of Charities and he had asked the Herald to 
investigate the complaints, instead of doing 
the work himself. (Only another instance of 
the manner in winch the large-hearted editor 
is constantly made use of by the public official. 
Ye Gods! What a theme is "The Chivalry 
of the Press!") 

A night on the train to Albany, a forenoon's 
ride on the Albany and Susquehanna road and 
1 was landed at Schoharie Station. The little 
town was nestled among hills, and a gurgling 
creek, that looked fish-wise, ran through it. 
To this day I can recall a quaint old bridge 
over which I was driven. The village was 
well supplied with churches, hut 1 could not 
learn that any of their pastors ever visited the 
exiled paupers, three miles from the county 
seat. The distance seemed longer; a full 
hour was used in driving it. The ride was a 
pretty one — a traveler would have thought 
lie was bound to a bit of Eden. There was 
water in the landscape, because the road 
skirted the brow of a range of hills, and, far 
below, was the creek that gives name to 
county and town. 

At last, we, the driver and 1. reached the 
object of my quest. It was a two-story brick 
structure, fronting valley-ward. We drove 
through a gateless entrance into the Potter's 
Field, placed on the high road where passersby 
could notice every newly-made grave and 



wonder which of their former neighbors had 
gone to a more hospitable world than this one! 
Not a headstone! Oblivion! 

How characteristic of cold charity to place 
the pauper's burying ground at the entrance 
to their last earthly home! How Dante 
would have appreciated the thought had he 
ridden that road, even in spirit form. He 
would have revised the legend over the gate 
to hell! The thought of the Schoharie pool- 
directors was more' poetic and quite as ef- 
fective as the words: "Abandon hope, all ye 
who enter here!" 

The deputy keeper welcomed me and 
asked me to make myself at home with a 
cordiality that implied the possibility of doing 
so. He told me Schoharie County fed her 
paupers at a cost of a dollar a head per week. 
He seemed proud of the economies he prac- 
ticed. 

I spent an hour among the forlorn men and 
women waiting to die — the socially con- 
demned! Xot a particle of reading matter 
did I see. except a torn and greasy Bible upon 
the cover of which was the announcement in 
letters so large that the title to the Word of 
God was over-shadowed: "Presented by the 
Schoharie Bible Society." Weren't there boxes 
at the post office or the railroad station in 
which papers, magazines and books might he 
deposited for these lonely, friendless people!' 
Nobody had thought of that. The beds were 
terrible to look upon. Provisions made for 
midnight "drunks" in our city police stations 
are much better. Only one sad incident of 
many comes to mind. In an upstairs room 
were eight aged women. One of them, dod- 
dering in a broken rocking chair, looked up 
as we entered and exclaimed: 

"Ah! are you a doctor.- There's some- 
thing the matter with this poor old head of 
mine." 



90 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



I told her that there was much the matter 
with mine, also — that it ached for her. This 
appeared to comfort, much as did the assur- 
ance of mv in-aiidiiiother when I stubbed a 
toe: **It will feel better when it (puts hurt- 
ing." What a freemasonry is human wretch- 
edness! The woman was made happy by the 
thought that I, too, was miserable. 

When 1 had seen every nook and corner of 
the place, I was driven back to town — past 
the outcasts' graves, past the farmers' homes, 
over the picturesque bridge- and halted be- 
fore a new county court house, the seat of 
justice. What a contrast to mercy's seat that 
I had left among the hills! In front of the lat- 
ter, a graveyard; behind the former, a jail. 
Alas! Mercy hail been exhausted in temper- 
ing Justice. It was a comfortable jail. Its 
keeper told me that the county paid $ L 2..'50 
pel' week to feed his charges. Little enough; 
but why the contrast ? 

The ethics are easy to puzzle out. The 
law-breaker must be conciliated. Does not 
he come into court and has not he, by coun- 
sel, the last word to a jury of his peers ? lie is 
the ward of Justice! But the broken of heart, 
of body and of mind. Whose wards are they ? 

Yes, one can hear the answer afar oil'. 
We've all heard it until it sounds sacrilegious 
to utter that Holy Name. But, on earth, 
God's creatures who have been stricken with 
misfortune dire are without judge, or counsel. 
Even the sacred writ of habeas corpus is not 
operative in their behalf. 

At the poor-house of Essex county, located 
in the hills beyond Whallonsburg, 1 passed 
through the wards for the aged men and 
women and crossed an open yard, deep with 
mud, to visit the children's quarters. While 
there, a small, red-haired, bare-headed urchin 
attracted my notice. I patted him upon the 
shoulder and asked his name. lie gave it 
promptly, told me he was 10 years old and 
mother and fatherless. He hadn't any rela- 
tives, so had to live at the poor farm! I felt 
deeply touched by the boy's words. 
When I left the miserable shed in which 
these children were herded and started across 
the muddy yard, I felt a tug at my coat. My 
little friend stood behind me. His eyes looked 
up to mine so pitifully that I asked: 



"What can I do for you, dear little chap?" 
"I want you to kiss me," he answered. 
"Certainly; but why?" 
"I never was kissed in my life!" 
When I sat down to write that incident for 
the Herald, I developed its pathos, describing 
the friendless lad. As a result, the little fel- 
low was adopted by a childless family near 
Saratoga: he has been well raised, given an 
education and will be heir to considerable 
property. His "ship came in that day." 
Hail to the Philanthropy of Journalism! 

During this winter of IS?!) -'NO, Benjamin 
F. Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts, 
instituted a series of reforms in prison and 
asylum management in that state. At his 
request, I went to Boston in February, 1880, 
to address a meeting held in Tremont Tem- 
ple. The hall was packed even to the rear 
seats of the gallery. To my amazement, on 
seeing a programme, I found that Wendell 
Phillips, the war-horse of Abolitionism and 
most famous of all living American orators, 
was to follow me. I thanked Heaven he was 
not to precede me! His presence on the plat- 
form explained the packed house. The won- 
derful old man showed his mastery over a 
crowd before the meeting had thoroughly got 
under way. A Boston lawyer made the open- 
ing address and uttered language that started 
an agitation at the front of the house. The 
keeper of a "private sanitarium" had sent a 
score of demented women with their keepers 
to the meeting in the hope of creating a scene. 
A mentally unbalanced woman got on her 
feet and began a rambling talk about a rela- 
tive who had been unjustly locked up in a 
mad-house. The assemblage of more than 
two thousand people was in turmoil. Mr. 
Phillips stepped to the front of the platform 
and with a motion of his hand stilled the mur- 
murs of insubordination aroused by the wo- 
man's language, lie said : 

'This good lady is quite right in every- 
thing she says, I haven't a doubt; I have in 
mind a case exactly similar of which I might 
tell you." 

He "might have" told it, but he didn't. The 
woman sat down. The audience was hushed 
and Mr. Phillips at once turned the platform 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



<)1 



over to the next speaker. He |>ut an inde- 
scribable spell upon every listener. lie sat 
down close to me and as he did so commented 
upon the size of the audience. "1 am sur- 
prised to see so many people here," said lie. 
"Everybody has forgotten the Indians and the 
insane." His was the speech of the night and 
made mo feel as if my poor effort were a 
school-boy's recitation. His methods showed 
the sublimity of that art which captures un- 
willing listeners and commands attention. 
Wendell Phillips had had an experience of 
more than a generation's length in dealing 
with turbulent assemblages. He had been 
hissed and pelted with had eggs when ad- 
vocating the cause of the negro. Therefore, 
I had the advantage of learning in five min- 
utes what he had acquired by the hardest and 
most cruel experiences. Great as is the art of 
oratory, it leaves behind only a memory! 
While the sculptor, painter or author be- 
queathes to posterity something more or less 
enduring, the orator works not upon canvas. 



or white paper or in clay, but upon himself to 
vitalize his thoughts. His statues fall with 
him! I have spoken of oratory elsewhere. Like 
the actor's art, thai of the orator dies when 
he does. 

Mention of Wendell Phillips recalls one of 
the last acts of Horace Greeley's editorial 
career before he plunged into the mad vortex 
of a presidential campaign. Mr. Phillips had 
spoken slightingly of Greeley's acceptance of 
a Democratic endorsement. A few weeks 
thereafter the Boston orator came to New 
^ ork to deliver his famous address on "The 
Lost Arts." Mr. Greeley sent the best sten- 
ographer on his stall' to Steinway Hall and 
printed the oration in full next morning, there- 
by destroying its availability for further use 
on the lecture platform. Since that time, laws 
have been enacted that protect the rights of 
lecturers and dramatic authors. It was "a 
complete revenge in one act." as Dumas once 
said. 



92 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER XI 



A CRUSADE TO THE QUAKER CITY 




few 



wee 



ks, 



N the Fall of INTO I was sent 
to Philadelphia with instruc- 
tions from James Gordon Ben- 
nett to expose corruption in the 
Republican organization that 
dominated that city. It was 
thought to l>e the work of a 
or months, at most. Political 
power was centered in '"the Gas Trust." an 
organization invested with the management 
of the municipal plant tor lighting the Quaker 
City. Its members were chosen by Select and 
Common Councils, a large majority of the 
members of which owed their places to the 
gas trustees. Having created the sources of 
their appointment, these trustees virtually 
chose themselves. Never in the palmiest days 
of Tweed was a small cabal of politicians so 
securely intrenched. Its members had the 
employment of more than 11,000 workmen in 
various branches of gas production and sup- 
ply. These men were chattels. They were 
moved about from ward to ward, whenever 
need arose to maintain dominance in any 
particular locality. Xot a ton of gas coal was 
brought to the city on which the railroads did 
not surrender a rebate to persons unknown. 
Not a foot of gas pipe was purchased without 



an overcharge. 



Lime. coke, retorts, wagons, 
of all kinds were gorged with 



machinery 

"graft!" The chief of this secret, all-power- 
ful cabal was a tall, mild-mannered Irishman, 
far along in years, who came to this country 
as a weaver and began work in Philadelphia 
at a loom in a cellar. He wielded the power 
of millions when the Herald went up against 
him! A long fight developed. Not a friendly 
word did I have from any newspaper in the 
town. Rufus E. Shapley, who had fallen out 
with the ringsters, was a staunch coadjutor. 
He wrote a satire called "Solid for Mulhooley " 
that materially advanced the agitation. 



A young lawyer named Pattison, in the 
office of Lewis C. Cassidy, secured the demo- 
cratic nomination for City Comptroller. He 
wasn't well known and the fact that he was a 
Democrat caused the Republican leaders to 
ignore him; but the reform agitation was 
growing and to the amazement of everybody, 
Robert E. Pattison was elected. He began 
at once to perform the true offices of a City 
Comptroller by demanding vouchers for all 
bills and tin-owing out those for which none 
existed. On November (>. 1880, E. Dunbar 
Lockwood sent out a call for a meeting at his 
office on the 15th. to organize a committee 
to grapple with the ring. Out of this meeting, 
to which I was invited, grew the Committee 
of One Hundred, -by comparison a far more 
effective and unselfish popular organization 
than had been our much-vaunted Committee 
of Seventy in New York. As time proved, 
there were less than half a dozen office-seekers 
in the whole bunch! In this fight, the Herald 
led from the beginning. Frequently, when 
its issue contained an exposure of convincing 
character. Mr. Bennett sent 10.000 extra 
copies to the Quaker City and distributed 
them at his own expense. The crusade was 
a costly one and attended with much perplex- 
ity, discouragement and perhaps some per- 
sonal danger. Hardly a mail but failed to 
bring to me a threatening letter from some 
servant of the cabal. Although I never as- 
sumed that these threats were inspired at 
headquarters, I afterwards learned that at- 
tempts were made to reach my proprietor 
abroad and to convince him I was actuated by 
motives of spite or failure to obtain political 
favors demanded! Non-possession of the fact 
that Mr. Bennett had inspired the campaign 
was the weak point of my enemies. I re- 
ceived from him a letter dated at Pan, saying: 
"I approve of everything you have done and 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



!)3 



am not influenced by any letters I receive." 
A desperate character, affiliated with the Gas 
Trust, although a Democrat, "Billy" McMul- 
len, was reported to me as swearing personal 
vengeance if (lie "persecution" of his friends 
diil not cense. 

The cabal then tried another method to 
cause my removal. On an order from the 
Herald office to get an interview with an 
adventurer, named Mantrop, for the use of a 
member of a Congressional committee in- 
vestigating charges that certain Senators were 
connected with a scheme to compel payment 
of claims against Peru. I secured the material, 
forwarded it to New York on the assumption 
that it would be transmitted therefrom to 
Washington. To my amazement, the matter 
was printed the following morning, owing to 
the condition of the night editor on the pre- 
vious evening. A firm of shyster lawyers 
affiliated with the ringsters immediately com- 
municated with one of the Senators mentioned 
by Mantrop, induced him to come to Phila- 
delphia and cause my arrest on a charge of 
criminal libel. I avoided arrest by hurrying 
to a magistrate's office with a bondsman and 
giving bail. The Senator disclaimed un- 
friendliness to me when the facts were stated, 
but persisted in what he was pleased to call 
his "vindication." The Gas Trust cabal was 
jubilant! Senator McPherson was not per- 
mitted to be satisfied with a '"vindication" 
in a magistrate's court, because an opportu- 
nity offered to send the obnoxious Herald cor- 
respondent to jail and thus to stop the ex- 
posures. Like Tweed and his associates, the 
Gas Trust corruptionists "only wanted to be 
let alone." The trial was unimportant and 
resulted in a fine, which was promptly paid, 
and the campaign continued. 

Among all the men who came to the fore- 
front in this crusade was S. Davis Page, a 
prominent lawyer and a member of the Com- 
mon Council. lie was elected from a down- 
town ward. lie lived in a fine old house on 
Fourth street, where his father, an eminent 
physician, had resided before him Mr. Page 
was born in the Quaker City in 1840, was 
graduated from Yale in 1859, and. after read- 
ing law in the office of Peter McCall, com- 
pleted his studies at Harvard Law School in 



iMit. lie at once began practice on his own 
account and it was not until twenty-odd 
years later that he formed the firm of Page, 
Allinson & Penrose, the latter being the pres- 
ent United Stales Senator. When corruption 
in the management of the City's gas-works 
became so evident that public action had to be 
taken, a committee of the City Council was 
appointed ami on this committee Mr. Page 
soon took the laboring oar. Day by day 
the Herald hammered away, its correspond- 
ent generally knowing in advance what wit- 
nesses would he called and often sujwestine 
ii- . . . . . 

the line of examination. An incident occurred 

one day that recalled the conduct of the Tweed 
ringsters in this city, when they broke a glass 
door in the court house and abstracted main' 
documents. Mr. Page carried a green baa', 
as does nearly every lawyer in the Quaker 
City, lie placed it in front of him upon a 
table and while he was conducting an exam- 
ination of one of the gas trustees, some ser- 
vant of the cabal stole his bag, supposed to 
contain incriminating evidence. The theft 
had no effect upon the investigation which 
went straight along and was followed by a 
political upheaval the like of which never has 
been seen in so strongly partisan a community. 
The reformation spread throughout the state 
and with the assistance of an "insurgent" 
Republican, named Wolff, Robert E. Pattison, 
the faithful City Comptroller, was chosen 
Governor of Pennsylvania, -a Commonwealth 
with a normal Republican plurality of 
150,000! 

Mr. Pattison's retirement from the Con- 
trollership was followed in 1883 by the advent 
of S. Davis Page to that office. Although he 
served only one term, he fully completed the 
house-cleaning so well begun by his predeces- 
sor. Having a large legal practice. Mr. Page 
was not desirous of continuing longer in 
politics, hut with the advent of President 
Cleveland he was appointed Assistant Treas- 
urer of the United Stales at Philadelphia and 
administered that office with entire satisfac- 
tion until 1890. A year later he was one of 
the Commission appointed by the Governor 
to investigate the accounts of John Bardsley, 
a derelict City Treasurer, with the Keystone 
National Rank. had known Rardslev when 



94 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



HARMAN VERKES 



1'Hll- DEWITT CUYLE 




JOHN C. BELL P. F. ROTHERMEL, Jr. 

A Ghoup of Promixkxt Philadelphiaxs 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



95 



he was a common councilman and had re- 
garded him as the least grasping member of 
the McManes cabal. He had played his 
cards so well that many thousands of staunch 
reformers were induced to vote for him when 
he received the nomination for City Treas- 
urer, to succeed a weak occupant of that 
office who had risen on the reform wave. 
When the crash of the Keystone Bank came. 
Bardsley was found to have unduly favored 
it. because its vaults held more city money 
than they should have had in them. Exactly 
what was the loss to the city. I never knew. 
Counsellor Page brought out every fact and 
sent the wretched "Godly-good-bub" Bards- 
ley to state prison. 

The personality of Boies Penrose, whom 
I knew in those days, is a delightful one. lie 
has been everywhere, seen everything, always 
a creature of luxury but never of foolish 
wealth, and is, therefore, one of the best- 
equipped companions any man who seeks 
true sociability could hope to meet. Penrose 
possesses a most equable temperament. He 
is one of the best listeners: his mentality is far 
beyond average. True, he lacks the divine 
gift of oratory. The man who can say the 
right thing at the proper moment more nearly 
belongs to the inspired of heaven than any 
human creature since the days of alleged 
prophets. 

When I first met Boies Penrose, son of the 
distinguished Dr. Richard A. 



F. r 



enrose. 



he 



was a young member of the bar of Philadel- 
phia, associated with S. Davis Page. That 
was about 1883. Senator Penrose was born 
in Philadelphia, 1860, and was graduated 
from Harvard in 1881. He was an athletic, 
healthy specimen of manhood when he re- 
turned to his home city and began the study 
of his profession. He read law with Wayne 
MacVeagh and George Tucker Bispham. but 
after his admission to the bar he entered 
politics and was elected to the Pennsylvania 
House of Representatives in the Eighth Phila- 
delphia district. Two years later he was 
sent to the State Senate, was reelected in 1X90 
and again in 1894, acting as president pro 
tempore of that body in 1889 and 1891. He 
was a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention of 1900 and 1904; was Chairman 



of the Republican State Committee tor two 
years; was Pennsylvania's representative on 
the National Republican Committee, 1904. 
He was elected United States Senator to suc- 
ceed J. Donald Cameron, tor the term begin- 
ning March 4, 1897, and lias twice been 
reelected, his term of service to expire in 191."). 

Although Boies Penrose is the inheritor of 
the mantle of the "Clan Cameron," never in 
any respect identified with reform measures, 
his own record began with brilliancy in a 




BOIES PEN HOSE 

memorable contest made by him in his native 
city as a candidate for mayor. At the request 
of Johns Hopkins University, and in collabo- 
ration with Edward P. Allinson. an associate 
in the law office of S. Davis Page, he wrote 
"A History of the City Government of Phila- 
delphia," a large octavo volume, which cut to 
the root of municipal corruption and showed 
how trusteeships like that which operated the 
gas works of the city were abused. The work 
was intended as a text-book for university 
study in historical and political science and 
served its purpose so vigorously that it led to 
political agitation wherever it was used. 
Associated as Mr. Penrose was with Matthew 



96 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Stanley Quay, his Senatorial colleague, he 
acquired by direcl heritage from the < lamerons 
.•ill the arts of political finesse thai had given 
to thai family complete political domination of 
the great state for more than ;i generation. I [e 
is to-day leader of his party in the United 
States Senate, absolute chieftain of the second 
state in the Union and litis before liim ;i career 
of great prominence. Barely fifty years of 
age, willi ;i small but ample fortune, general 
popularity, much suavity of manner, ;i fine 
voice ;ind capacity to use il when necessary, 
commanding the respect of the tremendous 
Republican majority in his state, there is no 
reason why Boies Penrose should not retain 
lo hale old age the distinguished position in 
national affairs lie now occupies. lie has de- 
veloped with his years; has become an excel 
lent Constitutional lawyer, a fair debater and 
.-in admirable political tactician. I have 
referred to his ability as a speaker, which 1 
am frank to say he has not displayed notably 
since entering the Senate Chamber. My 
opinion is based upon his speeches during an 
exciting municipal contest, in which he formed 
so large a part. Many people marvelled at 
the forensic ability Senator Aldrich. a plain 
grocery-man, ultimately developed. Senator 
Penrose has a line education, is well equipped 
in legal knowledge, and as the leader of his 
party in the Chamber, will rise to the demands 
of the place. lie belongs to one of the old 
families of the Quaker City, and. as 1 have 
said, his father was ;i distinguished member 
of a profession that ranks preeminently high 
in Philadelphia, known as a city of doctors 
and lawyers. 

Another experience with a threatened libel 
suit occurred during my stay in tin' Quaker 
City. Although il belongs to the Comedy of 
Journalism, 1 relate il here as a foil to the 
McPherson incident. In searching through 
a mass of vouchers and letters that I had 
obtained in an underground manner from the 
office of the Gas Trust. 1 encountered the 
name of Cornelius Walburn, referred to in 
letters as "Coonie." I made mention of him. 
although he was not in any way involved in 
irregularity. Nexl day, a short, red-faced man 
of middle age came into the Herald bureau 
and announced his intention to bring a suit for 



libel against the newspaper because his name 
had been mentioned in connection with "the 

rascals of the ( bis Trusl ." 

A clerk was seated at the other side of the 
loom and 1 pretended lo give him some in- 
structions. Then 1 returned to my visitor 
and asked : 

"Why have I libelled you by mentioning 
your association with the people at the gas 
office ?" 

"Why?" he fairly shouted: "'because 
is a thief. 1 know him to be. lb' wauled me 
lo certify a crooked kill for goods 1 supplied; 
when 1 refused to do so. he sa id : 'No matter. 
Coonie; we can fix the bill afterwards.' And 
1 suppose he diil. There's . he is just as 

much of a 'crook.' 1 can put him in jail. 
And. as for the boss himself. 1 don't fear him: 
1 know how he gol rich 

"Please wait a moment," said I. looking 
over at the clerk. "Have you got that all 
dow n. Joe ?" 

"Yes, sir." replied the young man. 

"What's thai ?" exclaimed Walburn. " You 
don't mean you are going to print what 1 have 
just said ?" 

"Certainly not: but we shall find it valua- 
ble in the suit you intend lo bring." 

"Oh! see here: I'll call thai suit off if you 
will give lo me those notes." 

".lust put them in the safe. Joe," 1 said, 
as the visitor departed. 

Many interesting incidents occurred during 
my stay in Philadelphia. From a small gath- 
ering of journalists and theatrical managers 
the Clover (Ink. one of the most famous in- 
stitutions of the kind ever known in this 
country, became a national affair. Il had its 
origin at a dinner given to John lb SchoefTel, 
at the Continental Hotel, in the spring of 
1880. The party included .lames II. Alexan- 
der. William U. Balch, Royal Merrill. Edward 
Bedloe, Erastus Brainerd, John P. Carncross, 

John Donnelly. Moses P. Handy. Albert II. 
Hoeckley. Thomas L. Jackson, Charles A. 
Menduin. Julius Chandlers. William Ander- 
son. Charles \\. Deacon, and .1. Fred Zim- 
merman. Mr. Handy presided. Near the 
small hours, Mr. Balch, then fresh from Bos- 
ton, proposed the formation of a social club. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



'.»: 



It was a Thursday night and the name of 
"Thursday Club" was chosen. The organi- 
zation took shape at once and for many months 
the meetings continued. A year later the 
name of the coterie was changed to "Clover 
Clul>." When a dinner was given by this 
club, special trains were run from Washington 
and New York, bringing as its guests distin- 
guished men of the nation. The Clover Club 
was the making of G. C. Boldt. 

While at Philadelphia I knew John W. 
Shuckers, who had been Secretary Chase's 
private secretary and inherited all his corre- 
spondence. During the Civil War a strange 
code of military ethics had developed. The 
most notable instance was Garfield's conduct 
toward a superior officer, Gen. Rosecran-. 
On July ?. 1863. Garfield, who afterwards 
became President, wrote from Nashville to 
Salmon P. Chase, then Secretary of the 
Treasury, a letter found among the papers of 
the dead Chief Justice in Shuckers' posses- 
sion and by him given to Charles A. Dana, 
who published it in the Sun in January. 1880. 
That letter has few parallels! During the 
entire Civil War, Chase and Stanton were 
marplotters in the Lincoln cabinet. I recall 
an entire afternoon passed in Shuckers' office 
where he had a type-setting machine, many 
features of which are incorporated in the 
"Linotype** of to-day), during which I read 
half a hundred confidential letters addressed 
to Chase by prominent member-, of the then 
Republican party. Many of them were grossly 
slanderous, most of them were treacherous in 
the truest sense, because they criticised men 
who trusted them and whose friendship they 
courted. Many of those epistles belong to the 
history of that time. Especially do I recall a 
letter by Murat Halstead, then editor of the 
Cincinnati Commercial, saying to Chase, who 
sat in Lincoln's cabinet. "Lincoln is crazy" 
and ""Horace Greeley ought to be hanged!" 
The birth of the town of Roanoke. Va., 
dates from the visit of a group of New York 
and Philadelphia capitalists who made a trip 
of exploration in May. 1881, over the newly 
acquired Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, which 
extended from Norfolk to Bristol. Tenn.. and 
which they had re-christened the Norfolk & 
Western. In that party were George I. 



Tyler, Clarence II. Clark. Frederick .1. Kim- 
ball. S. A. Caldwell, all of Philadelphia, and 
( !hristopher ( 



Baldwin, President and George 



C Clark, director of the Louisville & Nash- 
ville Railroad. W. B. [sham and James T. 
Woodward, of the Hanover Hank of New 
York. I was aboard that train a- the guesl 
of Clarence II. Clark, who had bought the 
road at foreclosure sale, re-capitalized it. 
placed its bonds and was making the tour of 
inspection of bis new property. That was one 
of the most remarkable four days' experiences 
of my life! The special train travelled only 
by daylight, and from ten o'clock until three. 
lay on sidings with direct wire communication 
into several of the largest banks and brokeragi 
offices of New York. It was veritably a stock 
exchange on wheels! 

One evening, as darkness was falling, the 
train stopped on a siding at Big Lick. An 
hour before, we had passed the point at which 
the Shenandoah Valley railroad was to join 
the newly named Norfolk & Western and 
thereby give to the latter direct connection. 
through Hagerstown and the Cumberland 
Valley railroad, to New York. Dinner had 
been served and every guest was in amiable 
mood. At this auspicious moment, a porter 
entered and announced that the mayor and 
town council of Big Lick awaited outside, de- 
siring to express the gratitude and the good 
will of the villagers toward the new owners 
of the line. President Baldwin was desig- 
nated to go to the rear of the car and address 
to the group of a dozen men a few words of 
thanks prior to sending "refreshments" to 
them. Mr. Baldwin was confused as to the 
geography of the locality. lie assumed that 
Big Lick was the point at which the Shenan- 
doah Valley road was to terminate. In a 
few florid sentences, he committed the direc- 
tors of the Shenadoah Company to a change 
in their terminal plans! lb- -poke partly as 
follows: "Here will rise a great city. Mr. 
Mayor and Councilmen of Big Lick. Bere 
we shall locate machine shops, round-houses 
and build hotels; here will rise seats of learn- 
ing and vast commercial enterprises. In a 
word, the magic of northern capital will 
create for the New South a business centre that 
will radiate it> activities far and wide."" 'I he 



98 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



LUCIUS 1. JOHNSON 



JAMES McCREA 



1 


1 ""1 1 




~"*^iB 






f 
1 


W ^ \ 1 
Kim 




^^ i^l 



ff 




jos. b iii tchinson alexander c. shand 

Prominent Railroad Officials of Philadelphia 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



!)f) 



applause was deep and heartfelt, although it 
is doubtful it' the Mayor and Councilmen 
of Big Lick understood its tremendous import. 
After the reception was over, the people in 
the dining-car had a hearty laugh at the ex- 
pense of Mr. Baldwin; hut they smiled in a 
different way when lie assured them that his 
promises must he made good and that the ter- 
minal of the Shenandoah road must be 
changed to Big Lick! He admitted his error 
hut said it must he corrected into fact. Some 
of the shrewd members of the parly unostenta- 
tiously dropped oil' the train and beforemid- 
night had secured options on all the acreage 
property they could buy within a mile of the 
railroad. Several Philadelphia millionaries 
were made that night! Francis .1. Kimball, 
who was one of the party, was then President 
of the Shenandoah Valley railroad, and lived 
to see it one of the important branch lines of 
the Pennsylvania system. The present head 
of the Norfolk & Western Railway Company 
is Lucius E. Johnson, horn at Aurora, 111., 
1864, and educated at the public schools of 
that town. At the age of twenty Mr. John- 
son secured employment on the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad as a fireman. 
He tells me that it was a matter of necessity 
with him to find work and points with especial 
gratification to the fact that he has risen from 
the ranks to the Presidency of a successful 
railroad system. Not possessing a technical 
education, such as might have been obtained 
at college, he specially qualified himself for 
the higher branches of his trade by constant 
study of the mechanical features of locomo- 
tive and train equipment. He remained in 
the locomotive department of that load until 
1886, holding various positions, including mas- 
ter mechanic at Aurora. He was then ap- 
pointed Superintendent of the St. Louis divi- 
sion, where he served two years; then of the 
Chicago division, where he remained an equal 
length of time; he was Superintendent of the 
Montana Central railway for three years; 
next he was Superintendent of the Michigan 
division of the Lake Shore & Michigan South- 
ern for four years and, in October, 1903, he- 
came General Manager and. in the following 
February. President of the Norfolk & Western 
Railway. Here is a story from real life of con- 



tinuous advancement l>\ sheer force of capac- 
ity. When the Norfolk & Western Railway 
was extended up the New River Valley into 
the soft coal deposits of West Virginia, the 
commercial world recognized the development 
of a previously unknown coal area In the 
I nited States. The outcome of thai adven- 
ture into unexplored fields was the formation 
of the Pocahontas Coal & Coke Co. The 
Norfolk & Western corporation built at Nor- 
folk the largest coal chutes in America. They 
were located near the entrance of the harbor, 
w here water was deep, and, for the first time iu 
the history of the American coal trade, regular 
lines of steamers carried the "black diamonds" 
of the Pocahontas Co. to Europe. Sturgeon 
and oysters took second rank at Norfolk to 
coal! Since 1904, when Mr. Johnson took 
charge, the permanent way and rolling slock 
of the Norfolk & Western Railway have been 
vastly improved. Mr. Johnson has offices in 
New ^ ork hut lives in Roanoke, that dream- 
town of the beautiful valley whose origin I 
have described. He is a member of the Vir- 
ginia Club of Norfolk, the Shenandoah (lull 
of Roanoke and of the Queen City of Cin- 
cinnati. He is a Democrat but has never 
mixed in politics. 

The Pennsylvania railroad has produced 

several of the most progressive men in Ameri- 
ca's roll of fame. Among them are J. Edgar 
Thomson, who largely created the line to 
Pittsburg and secured the New Jersey divi- 
sion to New York; Thomas A. Scott, who 
extended the trunk lint" to Chicago; George 
B. Roberts, who added the Philadelphia. Wil- 
mington & Baltimore and with Scott's Bal- 
timore & Potomac drove the road into Wash- 
ington and through the Monument City and 
laid the great basis for its present financial 
credit; Frank Thomson, who. like the others. 
had given his life to (he problem of improving 
the permanent way: A. J. Cassaft. whose fore- 
sight in providing freight relief lines and en- 
tering the metropolis under the Hudson River 
by extending the steel highway to Long Island 
has been realized since his death: and James 
McCrea, the present head of the gdfjantic cor- 
poration, under whose presidency that notable 
improvement which makes New York the 
Eastern terminus of the Pennsylvania system 



100 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



W. \V ATTERBURY 



CHARLES E ITCH 




henry s. grove john s. bioren 

Foub Well Kxowx Philadelphia Men 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



101 




SAMUEL REA 

lias been completed, at an expense of $100,- 

000. 000. Every one of these men lias done 
his part, but in each instance there have been 
masters of planning and execution, upon 
whom the burden of responsibility has actually 
rested and whose engineering; genius has been 
called into service in a thousand unexpected 
crises. 

When the Pennsylvania Railroad Company 
determined to extend its system into the heart 
of New York under the North River and be- 
yond, under the East River, to Long Island, 
and to erect a mammoth station in the metrop- 
olis, direct charge of these vast undertakings 
was committed to Samuel Rea, Second Vice- 
President of the Company. The magnitude 
of such responsibility can hardly be compre- 
hended by the ordinary, unprofessional mind 
intent on other tasks. That every detail of 
the work has been carried to complete suc- 
cess does not surprise the associates of Mr. 
Rea, or those who believe in the Pennsylvania 
organization and methods. Thorough 
education in the railroad business, an excellent 
engineering experience and sublime confidence 
in his ability to achieve apparently impossible 
results, guaranteed results. In recognition of 
Mr. Ilea's achievement and the public benefit 



derived therefrom, the University of Pennsyl- 
vania recently honored itself by conferring 
upon him the degree of Doctor of Science. I 
should add thai as part of the tunnel exten- 
sion the construction of the New York Con- 
necting Railroad, now building jointly by the 
Pennsylvania and the New York, New Haven 
& Hartford Railroad companies, will in con- 
nection with the tunnels form a through route 
for transportation between Southern. Western 
and New England states. 

The rise of Samuel Rea to such distinction 
as engineer and executive is not the result of 
anything but hard work and ability. lie was 
born at Hollidaysburg, Pa., in 1855, at the 
eastern foot of the original Portage road, over 
which canal boats of the early part of the last 
century were dragged across the Alleghenies 
to Johnstown on the western side. As a hoy, 
he climbed those hills, through the rhododen- 
drons, to Cresson and determined upon a life 
of service to the railway that was at that time 
solving the problems of the Horse-Shoe Curve 
and the Allegrippus grade. He did not wait 
an hour after he was sixteen. lie began engi- 
neering work on Morrison's Cove. Williams- 
burg and Bloomfield branches of the Pennsyl- 
vania railroad in 1871, carrying chain or 
theodolite for two years (serving under his 
present chief, Mr. .lames McCrea, then as- 
sistant engineer). The great financial and 
commercial crises of the Seventies put a stop 
to all engineering work, so then he titled him- 
self for clerical work until 1875 with one of 
the large Hollidaysburg iron corporations, 
returning to the Pennsylvania in 1875 as As- 
sistant Engineer and builder of the chain 
suspension bridge over the Monongahela river 
to Pittsburg. When this task was completed, 
he was assigned to the Pittsburg & Lake Erie, 
where he acted as Assistant Engineer for two 
years. From this point, I cannot better indi- 
cate the vast scope of Mr. Rea's experience 
than by summarizing, step by step, the prog- 
ress of his interesting career: In IS?!) he 
resinned his Pcnna. R. R. affiliation; an ex- 
tension of the Pittsburg, Virginia <\: ( Charleston 
railway was decided on and he was directed 
to make it. That was the form orders always 
took when given to him. Then duties came 
fast. From 1SS0 to 1SN.'5 he was engineer in 



102 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



charge of surveys in Westmoreland County, 
Pa., and revising and rebuilding Western 
Pennsylvania Road; in 1883 to 1888, Principal 
Assistant Engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad: 
isss to 188!).' Assistant to Second Vice-Presi- 
dent; then from 1SS!) to April, 1K!)1, he became 
Vice-President, Maryland Central Railway. and 
Chief Engineer, Baltimore Belt Road, to abol- 
ish the B. & (). ferry and run trains under 
and through Baltimore; April, 1891, to May. 
1892, out of service on account of ill-health 
and European travel for recreation; May 25, 
1892, to Feb. 1(1. IS!)?. Assistant to President, 
Pennsylvania Railroad; Feb. 10. 1897, to June 
14, 1.S99. First Assistant to President, same 
road; June 14. IS!)!), to October 10. 1905, 
Fourth Vice-President, Pennsylvania Railroad 
System East of Pittsburg and Erie; October 
li), 1905, to March 24. 1909, Third Vice-Presi- 
dent; March 24, 1909, to date. Second Vice- 
President; and in connection with his former 
duties was placed in charge of engineering 
and accounting departments; also second 
Vice-President, Northern Central Railway, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington R. R. 
and West Jersey & Seashore R. R. Compa- 
nies, and a Director of Pennsylvania R. R. Co. 
and many other corporations. 

Admiring the sturdy qualities of Samuel 
Rea as I do, I hope to see him one day carry 
out the dream of the late Frank Thomson, 
to drive a tunnel thirty-odd miles under the 
Alleghenies, starting from his beloved Holli- 
daysburg anil ending at Johnstown, doing 
away at one stroke with the natural barrier 
that impedes rapid transit between Altoona 
and the West. It is a theme 1 discussed 
on several occasions with Frank Thomson 
at his home in Merion. 

Mr. Ilea is a member of the American 
Society of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil 
Engineers of London, New York Chamber of 
Commerce, Merion Cricket Club, Union Club 
of New York, Lawyers Club of New York. 
Philadelphia Club. Metropolitan Club of 
Washington, Century Association, Pennsyl- 
vania Society of Sons of the Revolution, Met- 
ropolitan Museum of New York, Royal Auto- 
mobile Club, London; Pennsylvania Society 
of New York. Economic Club of New York 
and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. 



The mammoth Pennsylvania Railroad sta- 
tion in Manhattan has been opened for more 
than a year. During its first twelve months, 
112,500 trains passed in and out through the 
tunnels that reach it — 99 per cent, of them on 
time. Not a single accident occurred on the 
section that includes these tunnels! Such a 
record cannot be equalled above ground, in 
this country or in Europe — the latter boasting 
of low accident records. The traffic through 
the tubes renews wonder at the magnitude 
and success of the splendid undertaking of 
Mr. Rea and his engineers. This is an era of 
marvellous engineering feats; but nothing- 
more wonderful has been accomplished in 
any part of the world than tunnelling under 
an entire city and two rivers, and carrying a 
trunk line of active railway underneath the 
cellars of skyscrapers without disturbance to 
the activities on the surface, and without 
accident in operation. Tunnelling under 
mountains may be more spectacular; the 
Panama canal may appeal more directly to 
the imagination; but conquest of the wilder- 
ness is free from complications that attend 
stupendous engineering undertakings in the 
heart of a compactly built city. 

Prominent among the many notable engi- 
neers in the service of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road is Edward Brinton Temple, who is now 
Assistant Chief Engineer of that company 
with headquarters in Philadelphia. Mr. Tem- 
ple graduated from Swarthmore College in 
1 S!) 1 and immediately became a rodman in 
the engineering department of the Pennsyl- 
vania Company. His advance in his chosen 
profession was rapid and he was from IS!)-,' 
to 1S!)4 an engineer connected with the en- 
largement of Broad Street station and was 
similarly employed in 1902-.') when the big 
improvements were made at West Philadel- 
phia. He also had direct supervision of the 
enlargement of the Schuylkill River bridges 
and the elevated railroad in 1910. Mr. Tem- 
ple was recently appointed Chairman of the 
Board of Engineers on Philadelphia Terminal 
Improvements. He is a member of the 
Athletic Advisory Committee of his alma 
mater and was director of the Swarthmore 
Rank in 1910 and its president in 1911. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



103 




\V. ATLEE Bl RPEE 



MAHI.nX \V. XKWTmN 



The secret of W. Atlee Burpee's success in 
the seed business is that he is an originator 
and is full of methods for creating; and hold- 
ing trade. lie oilers prizes for almost every- 
thing that will help in the general aggregate 
and in consequence has created one of the 
greatest mail-order houses in the country, 
while he has at the same time improved the 
quality of his product so that his claim that 
"Burpee's Seeds Grow" is no misnomer. 

Mr. Burpee entered the seed business with 
two partners in 1876. He was then eighteen 
years of age and two years later he started 
alone under the firm name he still uses. His 
success was phenomenal from the start, so that 
he has now several mammoth warehouses and 
conducts the Fordbook Farms, the largest 
and most complete trial grounds in the coun- 
try. In addition, Mr. Burpee publishes one 
of the most comprehensive annuals devoted 
to the industry. It is known as "The Leading 
American Seed Catalogue" and the 1912 
issue will he the thirty-sixth annual edition. 

Mr. Burpee is interested in many financial 
institutions, is a member of a score of clubs 



and national and international societies de- 
voted to horticulture. 

To many a man who makes the city of Phila- 
delphia in his travels, the knowledge that 
he has Green's Hotel at which to live and 
Mahlon Newton for a host makes his ap- 
proach to that city a bright spot in the dull 
cares of life. There are few hotels in this 
country that carry a better name than Green's 
of Philadelphia; perhaps none gives better 
service for the amount charged its guests. 
Mr. Newton, who has made it one of the lead- 
ing houses of the continent and a real feature 
of the Quaker ( 'it v. was horn in the neighboring 
state of Jersey. When he left his home and 
went to Philadelphia from Burlington County, 
New Jersey, in early youth, it was to fill a 
position in a Market Street hardware store, so 
that when he launched into the hotel business 
at Woodbury, X. .1.. in 1878, he was totally 
inexperienced and the success of the venture 
was by no means certain. Mr. New ton. how- 
ever, had a genius for entertaining and the 
faculty of providing good service and an 
elaborate cuisine. His success was imme- 



1(14 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



diate and he later purchased the hotel at 
Wenonah, X. J., in a few years more becom- 
ing one <>f three to purchase Green's Hotel. 
He eventually bought the interests of his 
partners and since 1898 has conducted the 
house alone. Each year Mr. Newton has 
added some improvement to the hotel. This 
year he is entirely remodeling it and the old 
house, which is one of the most homelike in 
the city, will now have added charms for its 
thousands of guests throughout the country. 

While mentioning those who were prom- 
inent in the social, professional or mercantile 
life of Philadelphia, Walter Hatfield must not 
lie overlooked, although the Grim Reaper long 
since claimed him. 

Mr. Hatfield was born in Philadelphia. 
January 1. 1851, the son of Nathan L. Hat- 
field. M.I). He was educated at the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, being a member of the 
class of '72, and upon leaving that institution 
of learning decided to enter mercantile pur- 
suits instead of preparing for a professional 
career. He engaged in the iron business and 
became a member of the firm of Patterson & 
Hughes, proprietors of the Delaware Rolling 
Mills, and retained this interest until his death, 
in 1908. 

Mr. Hatfield was a man of attractive per- 
sonality and had many friends in the social 
and manufacturing worlds, to whom his death 
came as a great shock. 

He was a brother of Henry Reed Hatfield, 
who is a prominent member of the Philadel- 
phia Bar. 

There has never keen a more forceful or 
commanding figure in the District Attorney's 
office in Philadelphia than George S. Graham, 
who for many years acceptably filled that 
arduous position. 

Mr. Graham was born in Philadelphia, Sep- 
tember 13, 1<S.>:>. and aftera preparatory course 
entered the University of Pennsylvania from 
which he graduated and then took up the 
study of law in the office of John Roberts. He 
afterwards entered the law school and gradu- 
ated with the degree of LL.B. 

Possessing rare oratorical ability Mr. Gra- 
ham naturally turned to politics and was soon 
in demand as a speaker. He was elected to 



and has since been engaged in 



Select Council and subsequently District At- 
torney and held the office for eighteen years. 
being Professor of Criminal Law in the 
University of Pennsylvania. Resuming pri- 
vate practice in IS!)!). Mr. Graham organized 
the firm of Graham & L'Amoreaux, of New 
York City 
many notable cases. 

The Democratic party in Pennsylvania was 
in a demoralized condition in the '80's, owing 
to a feud between Senator Wallace and Ex- 
Speaker Randall -two strong, equally am- 
bitious and incorruptible men. A state con- 
vention of their party had been called to meet 
at Harrisburg, and the anxiety to know what 
the Pennsylvania Democracy would do was 
general throughout the country. I was there 
to ascertain the terms of peace, if made. 

During the afternoon preceding Convention 
day. several correspondents like myself found 
difficulty in killing time. We visited the 
public institutions. Four of us hired a car- 
riage and drove to the Asylum for the Deaf 
and Dumb, where we witnessed a remarkable 
exhibition of a super-cultivated sense. A 
young woman, deaf and dumb, could write 
down what two of us conversed about by 
watching our lips! We made several tests— 
in one case standing 100 feet distant and talk- 
ing in whispers. 

That night 1 learned from W. U. Ilensel, 
afterward Attorney-General under Governor 
Pattison. that a reconciliation was to occur 
between Randall ami Wallace, — to take place 
in view of the entire convention. A balcony 
at the rear of the hall, originally built for an 
orchestra, had been chosen as the place. 
Phis was announced in Xew York in the 
morning papers. I had come to know both 
those men at Washington. Although honest, 
they believed the spoils of office belonged to 
them. Therefore, an agreement about the 
offices in the state was inevitable. Wallace 
and Randall were to enter the balcony from 
opposite sides, have their conference alone and 
to clasp hands, in view of 1/200 delegates! 
A thrilling, picturesque scene, easy of de- 
scription, was sure to occur; but who could 
learn what words were exchanged between the 
two men ? 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



1 05 



f 



k. 

r 




RICHARD WAI.X MEIRS 

A well-known Philadelphian who is connected with the administration 
of the great Weightman Estate 



JOSEPH II. KLEMMI I: 

Director of Suppliesfor the citj of Philadelphia under Mayo] fo 
who rel ired \\ n !i t hat adminisl ration. 



My mind reverted to "the banner scholar" 
at the Deaf and Dumb Asylum! The balcony 
was distant only thirty feet from the main gal- 
lery. With the aid of a cab, persuasion and 
promises of liberal compensation, a demure 
woman occupied the nearest gallery scat to the 
balcony, when the convention opened. She 
was to write, by sight, upon a pad what the 
state leaders said! Nobody in the hall knew 
of her presence except myself. 

She was alert, but innocent of any political 
knowledge. The rush of the assembling mul- 
titude did not disturb her — because she could 
not hear it. Suddenly, the vast crowd rose to 
its feet! A whirlwind of applause anticipated 
the appearance of the two statesmen at op- 
posite sides of the balcony. It was a thrilling 
moment for everybody who understood its 



purport — it presaged the election of Robert E. 
Pattison, as Governor! Hut a stolid little wom- 
an in the gallery, near to the chief actors, said 
nothing, heard nothing, and saw everything. 
Barring a few proper names that she could 
not read, because unknown to her. she com- 
mitted to paper the terms reached at that 
famous conference. Some of the blanks were 
tilled by subsequent "'hustling" and some 
were not; hut she wrote an almost verbatim re- 
port of what each of the two men said; the 
patronage they agreed to control, in the event 
of Mr. Pattison's nomination and election; 
and the attitude they would take in the ap- 
proaching Democratic National Convention. 
The Democratic ticket named on that day 
swept the Commonwealth, for the Hist time 
in thirty years, and all pledges made in that 
balcony were carried out. 



KM. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Among the members of the Philadelphia 
junior bar who have made reputations in that 
city of excellent lawyers is Charles II. Burr, 

Jr., a graduate of the 
Law School of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. 
Upon graduation and 
subsequent admission 
to the bar, Mr. Burr 
was for a time asso- 
ciated with his father. 
1 nit his private practice 
grew to such propor- 
tions that he organized 
the firm of Burr, Brown 
& Lloyd, which has 
figured in prominent 
cases both in Philadel- 
phia and Xew York 
City, and is now coun- 
sel for many well-known individuals and firms. 
Mr. Burr is deeply interested in politics in 
his native city and has been in much demand 
as a speaker in several campaigns. 

He is a member of the University and 
Lawyers' clubs and belongs to many other 
social and political organizations. His offices 
are located at Xo. 328 Chestnut Street. Phila- 
delphia. 




CHAS. II Bl l;l; 



A branch of expert research commanding 
high reward is that of a certified public ac- 
countant, who is able to disentangle the affairs 

of a firm or corpora- 
tion when they become 
involved. In this class 
of experts, I especially 
want to mention Ed- 
ward Preston Moxey, 
at the head of his pro- 
fession in Philadel- 
phia. He was born of 
Scotch parentage in 
that city. August. 1849, 
and received his edu- 
cation in its excellent 
public schools. At 15 




EDWD PRESTON MOX] V 



he began as a clerk in 



the banking house of 
Glendinning, Davies & 
( 'o.. where he remained 10 years and ultimately 
became cashier. In 1875 he established a 
stock brokerage firm and "'bucked theThird 
Street tiger" until he organized the accounting 
firm of Edward P. Moxey & Co. He became 
a special United States bank examiner of the 
National Banks in 1891. He is an instructor 
in advanced accounting at the University of 
Pennsylvania. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



in 



CHAPTER XII 



SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE I HAVE KNOWN 




)ROM Philadelphia I went to 
Washington, again. This time 
my orders were unusual. The 
last column of the Herald's edi- 
torial page was reserved for me 
and 1 was expected to fill il 
every night with gossip from 
the Capital. This was an easy task for a fort- 
night; but, by that time, sources of supply 
were exhausted and the stunt became a 
difficult one. Fortune often favored me, as, 
for example, I visited the National Museum 
one daw when a secretary of a United States 
Senator — mistaking me for an employe —ac- 
costed me to ask: 

"Is Senator Van Wyck's bald-eagle done.-" 

This led to the unearthing of unusual 
"perquisities," obtained by Congressmen of 
all degrees. Another Senator was having a 
collection of the birds of Kentucky stuffed and 
mounted at Government expense. 1 learned 
that taxidermy, in all branches, was performed 
free for statesmen! Every time another West- 
ern Congressman returned from his home, he 
brought as many specimens of the winged 
game of the locality as he could gather, to 
have then stuffed and mounted at the National 
Museum. 

While at Washington, on this occasion, I 
lived for several months in the "Dolly" Madi- 
son house, at the corner of Jackson Square and 
H street. I slept in the bed chamber that had 
been occupied by the charming mistress of the 
White House, but never saw her apparition, 
as other tenants have claimed. The building 
is now the home of the Cosmos Club. 

The social event of that season (1886) was 
the marriage of Miss Folsom to President 
Cleveland. The burden of writing an entire 
page account of that event fell upon me and 
has been referred to elsewhere. 



\Micn Congress adjourned. 1 spent the re- 
mainder of the Summer at Long Branch, 
Narragansett, Cape May and Newport, doing 
a daily letter and a page Sunday article every 
week. Thus events hurried me onward In- 
ward the sublime incident of my life. 

At Washington, I had many experiences 
that have no place in this narrative. Among 
them was a personal acquaintance with 
Thomas B. Reed, obviously the coming man 
on the Republican side of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. He was a lover of Balzac and 
read him in the original, after a fashion al- 
though he persisted in calling the name 
"Balza," even after being set right. There 
wasn't any doubt that Reed was the leader 
of the minority, although ( 'aniion, as ( 'hairnian 
of the Committee on Appropriations, was very 
strong; but Reed, by sheer avoirdupois anil 
brain tissue, over-rode everybody in his party. 

A London newspaper recently announced 
that •"the Speaker of the House of ('ominous 
is suffering from 'listener's gout !' ' It was a 
wholly new phrase to me. I have personally 
known every Speaker of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, at Washington, since Schuyler 
Colfax, ami I never heard any of them con- 
fess to similar complaint. Doubtless, one 
sort of gout is as obnoxious as another. Years 
ago 1 gave up Burgundy because premonitory 
twinges in one of my feet were diagnosticated 
as incipient gout. All my life I have been a 
good listener, and the recollections of my 
forgetfulness would stand me in greal stead 
were 1 sure of them. What is "listener's 
goutr" 1 got "on (he wire" and called up 
several distinguished authorities on diseases 
of the nervous system. Not an answer was 
satisfactory from a bill-poster's view-point. 
I should explain that the bill-poster is a phi- 
losopher who sincerely believes that an answer 



108 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



or an appeal is valueless unless it makes a 
distinct mental impression. 

James G. Blaine was the first Speaker of 
the House known to me. His art consisted 
in playing General Butler against every other 
stormy petrel in the House! It was a com- 
paratively easy solution of a difficult situation. 
Butler liked the job and it saved the Speaker 
a deal of trouble. The Essex statesman had 
I n of invaluable aid on several critical oc- 
casions and Speaker Blaine was "a square 
divider." 

Speaker Kerr never was well known to any- 
body. He only lasted for one session (1875 
1N7(>) and as a "listener" never attained a 
standing. When the newspaper boys went to 
see him after each day's session, he always 
talked a streak, but never supplied any in- 
formation. 

Samuel .1. Randall was the most respectful 
and considerate man who occupied the Speak- 
er's chaii- since I began a study of such 
officials. There wasn't any "cloture" under 
him. The youngest member was always given 
a few opportunities to "make good." He had 
to show ability, or he got a short shrift; hut 
there wasn't any smothering of nascent genius. 
Randall might have contracted "listener's 
gout" had he known of the malady. Poor 
chap, he didn't learn he had cancer of the 
stomach until he ran against a too-talkative 
physician. Of all men lately in public life. 
Randall probablv possessed more sweet and 
lovable characteristics than any other. Never 
shall 1 forget a day passed with him at his 
farm, near Paoli, Pa., only a few months be- 
fore his death, in which he talked continuously 
about his career in Congress. He foresaw 
the coming popular revolution, although this 
must have been about INN!), and regretted 
that his devotion to " protection " —owing to 
his Pennsylvania environment — had contrib- 
uted to the creation of gigantic monopolies. 
Remember, that was more than six years be- 
fore the Chicago platform that first arraigned 
the trusts! 

J. Warren Keifer. who succeeded Randall 
for a single session, in 1881, was an excep- 
tionally popular Speaker. He was truly a 
"listener." The hold of the Republican 
majority was recognized as temporary; there- 



fore, Keifer treated the Democrats in the 
House with as much consideration as a Speaker 
chosen from their own party could have shown. 
He made several rulings that stand to this 
day as marvels of impartiality, and in which 
partisans like Reed or Cannon would have 
exercised "a reasonable discretion" — as 
Reed once explained an arbitrary decision to 
me — in behalf of his own party. Keifer's sit- 
uation was difficult and he never received 
credit for the cleverness with which he ac- 
quitted himself. 

John G. Carlisle was a wholly different 
type of man. He came into the Speakership 
on a wave of popular revolt — the wave that, 
on its rebound, was to carry Grover Cleveland 
a second time into the White House. The 
keen, analytical mind he possessed never 
really showed until he attained a Cabinet 
position that came to him later. He kept 
his left ear to the crowd all the time, and 
might have been a much greater figure in 
American history had he barkened to pre- 
monitions that came to him. What his affilia- 
tions with protection and gold-standard ele- 
ments in the democracy were I never was 
able to fathom. He lost his opportunity, just 
as did David B. Hill, by clinging to driftwood 
that really belonged to the Republican party 
—its flotsam and jetsam! Hill could have 
buried Bryan at Chicago had he been a good 
"listener," conceded the trend of the silver 
craze— almost as rampant at St. Louis as at 
Chicago — and proposed a compromise of 25 
or 26 to 1 instead of 1() to 1. John G. Car- 
lisle was the most ambitious man ever known 
to me in public life. — not even excepting 
Thomas B. Reed. His eyes were as confi- 
dently set upon the White House as were those 
of William McKinley. But Carlisle weakened 
on half a dozen critical occasions while 
Speaker, and Crisp subsequently became the 
figure that Carlisle ought to have aspired to 
l»e, instead of going into the Senate. Natur- 
ally, when he accepted a place in President 
Cleveland's second Cabinet his career was run. 
Had Carlisle been a good "listener." "Old 
Faithful" geyser, Bryan, never would have 
appeared above the surface and Carlisle 
surely would have landed in the Executive 
Mansion, as it was called, until Theodore 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



10!) 



Roosevelt had the stationery changed to 
"White House." 

'Tom" Reed appeared in the House of 
Representatives like a big Roman candle thai 
dazzled the eyes of Cannon, Payne, Dalzell, 
Bingham and Kelley. Had Wa-d not tumbled 
into the arena. Cannon would have "arrived" 
in the Speaker's chair ten years before he did. 
Of the two men. Cannon was much the better 
politician; Reed didn't make a single "touch- 
down" that Cannon didn't make a kick from 
the 25-yard line! But Reed was absolutely 
fierce in "tackling" every player who showed 
up. In that way, he became "captain" of the 
House team. 

Thomas B. Reed, never suffered from "lis- 
tener's gout." His first term (1889-91) was 
administered with the mildness of a suckling 
dove. He was like a hoy at school. Not a 
trace of subsequent imperiousness that de- 
veloped during his second incumbency of the 
office! When the Democratic landslide of 
1890 happened, Reed went to Rome and 
studied the careers of the Emperors. He 
came back from Italy in August, 1891. I 
went to Portland to get an interview and 
passed much of two days with him at his bio-, 
square brick house, enjoying his treasures in 
missails and Venetian cameos, petting his bio- 
cat "Anthony" and listening to his predictions 
regarding the policies of the victorious Demo- 
cratic party. He was anxious that Mills should 
have the Speakership; he was warm in praise 
of the Texan. Crisp had not appeared as a 
candidate. (This was on August 1.3, 1891.) 
Had Mills been chosen Speaker his career 
would have ended very differently. 

Charles F. Crisp came into office like a 
June morning. He was undoubtedly popular. 
He was too good a "listener" and made wreck 
of his two terms in the Speakership for the 
same reason that the Miller and his Son failed 
to get anywhere when, according to .Esop. 
they set out for the mill. Here's another man 
who could have headed off Bryan had he 
risen to opportunity! Maybe, the explanation 
is "listener's gout!" I never heard one sug- 
gested before. Mills would have got some- 
where had he attained that Speakership: 
Crisp never got anywhere. My recollection 
of the broiling-hot days of the Chicago con- 



vention is that while Bland, Mills and others 
were mentioned, the name of Crisp never 
agitated the air. Hope is that the career of 
Champ Clark will not end in similar fashion. 

In Reed's two-term second occupancy of 
the Speaker's chair In- effaced every tradition 
of his previous term and stood strong for in- 
dividuality and bossism. lie was always im- 
perious, but during a field-day in the House 
of Representatives. Speaker Reed for the first 
time, and amid continuous uproar, enforced 
his new rules. Although that body had put 
power in his hands, many members of his own 
party rebelled at the Speaker's dictatorship. 
I had sent a special correspondent (Henry L. 
Nelson) to Washington who wired a graphic 
description of the scene. Mr. Reed's method 
of counting a quorum by including every 
member in the Chamber, whether or not he 
answered to his name at roll call, was set 
forth, accompanied by interviews denuncia- 
tory of the Speaker's "despotism." On a 
small basis of fact. Nelson made a highly sen- 
sational letter. Reed's domination over Un- 
popular body was generally pronounced ini- 
republican — decidedly Russian in character. 

I was then managing-editor of the World. 
This despatch being the news feature of the 
night, I undertook the construction of its big 
head, as was generally my custom. For a 
top line. I wrote the words 

REED, THE RUSSIAN 

The compositor did not follow my marks 
indicating the size of display type, but used 
another font; consequently, the letters over- 
ran the line, and the proof came to me thus: 
"REED. THE Rl'SS." 

A new catch line had to lie invented, in- 
stantly: the page was waiting! After several 
attempts, I hit upon two words that have be- 
come a part of American political history. I 
went to Foreman Jackson and asked him to 
select the largest possible 1 type that would ad- 
mit the words. "CZAR REED." 

The title was a national hit! It was taken 
up by republican and democratic journals. 
\{crt\ was immensely pleased as he was at a 
later (lav with Homer Davenport's caricatures 
of his vast, round face and his Gargantuan 



mi 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



body. The only protest came from the corre- 
spondent. He sen! a pathetic letter-telegram, 
whining thai "the Czar Reed head has 
dwarfed my entire article." 1 laughed ;it him 
over the wire in response; hut he was right. 
The headline lived, while his specious protests 
against '"the \\rtt\ rules" were soon forgotten. 
1 had known Reed since 1886, when he was 
edging toward the leadership of his party on 
tin' floor of the House. Especially do 1 recall 
a trip we made together from Washington to 
New York. He was reading a volume of 
Balzac and 1 was correcting the proofs of an 
article on "Journalism," for the American 
Appendix of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica." 
Reed looked over the sheets and encountered 
this paragraph: "Washington is the political 
news-center of the nation and the outlook of 
the correspondent sent there becomes as wide 
as the country. The Capital interests him; 
its distances wear him out. New members of 
( ongress talk too much; old ones not enough, 
lie encounters falsehood in all forms, and. 
almost daily, is shocked to hear lawmakers 
admit it is uttered for political reasons. Wash- 
ington is a solemn place to anv young man 
who. until arriving there, has believed in the 
sincerity of human kind." 

rhat's as t rue as anything in Holy Writ!" 

he exclaimed. '"1 hope to see the dav when 
politics in this country will not be conducted 
according to the methods of the professional 
confidence man or the police 'grafter.' 1 am 
glad you put into permanent form a protest 
against Washington as it is." Then he re- 
sumed "l.ii Duchess de Langeais." His knowl- 
edge of French was wholly academic. 

When at Washington in L896, 1 often at- 
tended Mr. Speaker Heed's receptions at the 
Shoreham Hotel and delighted to observe the 
way in which he satisfied members of the 
House without promising them what they 
asked. His methods were those of the lion- 
tamer the eye-power. The Republican party 
had for its head, at that time, a man who 
hadn't been known to the American people 
a year earlier. Marcus Uonzo llanna. and he 
had announced that William McKinley would 
l»e the next nominee of the party for the Presi- 
dency. Hauna was a Cleveland shipping mer- 
chant, a millionaire and. as afterwards devel- 



oped, capable of making good. In that Spring 
of L896, \\ti-(\ looked fair as the coming man: 
hut he didn't appreciate llanna as 1 learned 
to do. during several months at Canton and 
Cleveland, after the St. Louis Convention. 
1 have referred to this ambition of Mr. Heed 
elsewhere, in discussing Senator Piatt. 

Within a few weeks of his death. I happened 
to meet Heed in a hall of the Broad Exchange 
building, where he had an office, and he again 
expressed his warm gratitude to me for chris- 
tening him "Czar Heed, of the First Pillion 
Dollar Congress." lie was successful in 
everything, except his cherished one a Presi- 
dential nomination. 

lie had antagonized so many people that 
his crowning ambition was rendered impossi- 
ble. 

In tin' meantime, the Cleveland shipowner 
llanna had appeared above the surface as an 
exploiter of McKinley, a dead-broke Canton 
lawyer, who had been in the House of Repre- 
sentatives for a space and as Chairman of 
the Committee on Ways and Means stood 
sponsor for the stillest, monopoly-favoring 
tariff hill ever shoved under the noses of the 
American people, -although it was framed for 
him by the various "interests." llanna. s 
opinion was that if the "protected interests" 
had received so many favors from the Repub- 
lican party, in the name of McKinley. the 
least they could do would he to raise a "yel- 
low-dog" fund of $5,000,000 and to let him 
dispense it. That's what happened. Reed 
had thought he could win the St. Louis nomi- 
nation strictly on his merits; hut when llanna 
told him exactly how many votes he would 
allow him to have (8-H, if memory serves, and 
llanna intended to emphasize his generosity 
by the half vote. \{cv(\ sickened of politics. 
He continued as Speaker for another term. 
hut 1 have always believed he did s,> because 
lie hoped in that position to humble McKin- 
ley and llanna. 

\{<-vd had learned much, hut he had not 
comprehended the omnipotence of money in 
national elections. He had not realized that 
llanna bought the Southern delegates, to be- 
gin with, and then ad. led what delegates he 
needed in the Northern States by sentiment 
or promises of office to their bosses. llanna 



BOOK of NEW YORK 



111 



"got away with" shrewd politicians like Piatt, 
Quay and others in 1896; l>nl they outwitted 
him at Philadelphia, in 1900, when they forced 
Governor Theodore Roosevelt upon his ticket. 

Heed's Presidential campaign bears inter- 
esting comparison with the more recent one 
of Vice-President Fairbanks, who attempted 
to conduct it on a culinary basis. Charles W. 
Fairbanks thought he could make himself a 
candidate by giving a dinner once a week to 
members of the Supreme Court and promi- 
nent Senators of his party. It was the intro- 
duction of the kitchen into politics much as 
the late Sam Ward introduced the spit and 
Westphalian ham into lobbying! Reed's plan 
was not less disastrous than was Fairbanks'. 
They were not good "listeners." 

The incumbency of David \\. Henderson as 
Speaker taught nothing. His wife was a prom- 
inent temperance agitator. She thought to 
score a "touch-down" one day bv spilling 
many thousand dollars' worth of the family's 
wines into the gutter: but the effort was abor- 
tive, because even temperance fanatics asked 
how the wines happened to be in her cellar. 
Henderson became such a cad toward news- 
paper men, upon whom he had forced his 
association when on the Moor, that he was 
generally overlooked. One cannot say harsh 
things about a cripple or a dead man. Hen- 
derson was "listening" all the time, but he 
never contracted "gout" or attracted public 
attention. 

Joseph G. Cannon and his eight years' 
Speakership fills a large niche in national his- 
tory. What a pity he hadn't really done one 
little thing — had one little thought— for the 
great masses of the American people! He 
was one of the most popular occupants of the 
chair since my recollection — popular with the 
members. The procession is a long one and 
"Uncle Joseph" may be proud to lead it. 
The State of Illinois wanted to make of him 
her "favorite son" for the presidential nomi- 
nation of 1!M)N. It was a deserved compli- 
ment; but the Speaker would not listen to the 
suggestion. He insisted that he had been 
honored sufficiently. 

While dealing with Washington, I want to 
speak of the relations between alleged states- 
men and real newspaper correspondents. 



German journalists recently did what the 
American correspondents in the Senate and 
House galleries of the Capitol at Washington 
should have done on many occasions. A beer- 
full leader of the Center parly during a wild 
harangue in the Reichstag sneeringly referred 
to the newspaper correspondents as "swine." 
Wth splendid unanimity, every managing 
editor in Berlin and throughout Germany 
ordered a cessation of reports of all delibera- 
tions in the Reichstag. The reporters left 
the press galleries, and legislators who had 
shone in the reflected light of the newspapers 
had to hire publishers to print their speeches, 
as well as to revise them. 

As every Washington correspondent knows, 
the value and amount of publicity bestowed 
upon ungrateful Congressmen by the news- 
papers cannot be calculated. An average 
member of the lower House is incapable of 
uttering a dozen consecutive sentences thai 
are grammatical or logical. Hardly a day 
passes in which the language of some one or 
other of these gentlemen does not require the 
conscientious and wholly unreniunenitive serv- 
ices of men in the press galleries. In the Sen- 
ate, naturally, the standard of education is 
higher and the vernacular is spoken with con- 
siderable purity. Its members have Keen 
longer under the blue pencils of the clever 
men who edit their copy for the Congressional 
Record. In addition, many of them prepare 
their long speeches, with the assistance of 
their private secretaries paid by the people— 
and actually read them! Such an infliction 
would not be tolerated in any other legislative 
body. 

Nothing is more common than to hear mem- 
bers of Congress, who for years have ted at 
the public trough, make slurring references to 
newspaper correspondents, who serve the 
American people at Washington quite as 
faithfully as they do. At a reception in this 
city, one evening, I heard Representative 
Hepburn, of low a. sneeringly refer to "the 
lying correspondents at Washington who are 
always misrepresenting what we (the Con- 
gressmen, presumably) try to accomplish." 
This language was used in a party of ladies, 
bill in such (ones that I couldn't help hear- 
ing. 



1K> 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



One lady came to me and begged that I 
interfere, but when I told her that this critic 
of the Washington correspondents hailed from 
a little village in Iowa and owed everything 
he was in his party (which wasn't a great 
deal) to the notoriety bestowed upon him by 
the same "lying" reporters, she agreed with 
me that notice of the remarks would dignify 
them. 1 then told her that this same man 
actually accepted invitations to dinners of the 
Gridiron Club, an organization of these same 
newspaper correspondents, that cost the 
"lying reporter" who invited him $10 to $ L 2.5 



foi 

Food law 



is guest. 



No restrictions of the " 1 : 



urc 



prevented this Iowa critic from 
smoking Grid- 



eating a Gridiron dinner, or 
iron cigars or drinking Gridiron wines. But 
the newspapers forgot him and he was de- 
feated for re-election. 

1 would like to see a boycott established 
against a few senators and representatives who 
are constant and unjust in their criticisms of 
I he American press. It has faults, as have 
present methods of legislation. Some people 



assure us that even executive power is abused, 
at times. But the good the newspapers of 
this country have done so far outweighs all its 
injustices that its official representatives should 
be free from the sneers of public servants sup- 
ported in part by the people they affect to 
despise. 

The action of the German reporters of the 
Reichstag will surely cause a wholesome 
change of sentiment throughout Germany, as 
well as in that body. Xo fewer than twelve 
deputies who had intended to speak on the 
colonial budget refused to address the Reich- 
stag because their remarks would not attain 
publicity. They do not care for several hun- 
dred hearers in the houses; they coveted the 
readers of newspapers throughout the Empire, 

an audience counted by millions. 

The most gratifying feature about the 
Reichstag boycott was the absolute unanimity 
with which it was entered into. Within a 
week, the Reichstag passed a resolution of 
apology to the German reporters and begged 
its acceptance. 




THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



113 



CHAPTER XIII 



SUDDEN CHANGE OF FORTUNE 




T THE close of the Summer 
season, I was recalled to the 
office by a cablegram from 
Paris and detailed to write 
editorial paragraphs; but Rev. 
Dr. Hepworth, in charge of 
that page, resolutely threw them 
away, uight alter night. 1 should have com- 
plained and asked a transfer to another de- 
partment; lint I made carbon copies of my 
matter and sent them to Mr. Bennett, at 
Paris. For six weeks. I went to my desk 
every night, and "ground out" twenty to 
forty paragraphs, most of which were sup- 
pressed. Perhaps they were poor stuff . How- 
ever, I learned that Mr. Bennett was coming 
over in October. He is a delightful chief 
when near at hand, but a terrible master 
when on one side of the Atlantic and his em- 
ployee on the other. 

A few days after the arrival in New York 
of the proprietor of the Herald, he sent for 
me. He was standing at a high desk, looking 
up Park Row. I was in a dissatisfied state 
of mind and what he said was not calculated 
to put me in better mood. When we were 
alone, he began: 

"I have been trying for several months to 
get the truth about the circulation of the 
World. I have had the business department 
working at the job, but its people tell me our 
circulation still leads. Xow, how can I get 
the facts?" 

"If you cannot secure the figures from the 
World press-room, by * underground,' there's 
only one sure method of ascertaining what 
von want to know. A man must go to every 
news-stand on Third Avenue, between here 
and Harlem bridge. He ought to walk, in 
order not to attract attention. Then Sixth 
and Eighth Avenues should be covered in 
the same wav. Murrav Hill and the Down- 



town shipping sections, where the Herald is 
strongest, should be canvassed." 

'That's an excellent suggestion," replied 
the proprietor; "but it is open to the same 
objection I have made to the other method. 
Can I believe the reports? I must have some- 
body do that work who isn't afraid to tell me 
the truth! I want you to undertake it!" 

This order was a surprise; after a success- 
ful winter at Washington, an assignment to 
spend days on the streets in a task of this 
sort appeared a humiliation despite the im- 
plied compliment as to my truthfulness. I 
left the room much chagrined. But. starting 
at Cooper Institute next morning at seven 
o'clock, I spent four days on the streets, 
afoot. Stands not connected with shops were 
closed by 11 o'clock, not to be re-opened until 
the evening papers were on sale: so I had less 
than half a day in which to work. My plan 
was to buy a paper, engage the dealer in con- 
versation and get the number of Heralds and 
Worlds sold. These figures I set down in a 
book, out of the dealer's sight, with location 
of purchase and name of dealer when ob- 
tainable. A day was required to compile and 
properly tabulate the results. The showing 
was unfavorable to the Herald. Although I 
do not choose to quote the figures, 1 worked 
out the percentage, showing relatively how 
much one journal led the other in circulation. 
When 1 presented the report to my proprietor, 
he went over every line, covering many pages 
of ledger paper. After half an hour's silence. 
—very awkward to me. because 1 had to 
stand as Mr. Bennett was standing al his 
desk, the latter said: 

"Just as I expected! Your work is well 
done: I am much pleased." With a few words 
of thanks, 1 started to leave the room, when 
Mr. Bennett asked: "What lime is it?" 



114 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Glancing across the street t<> the spire of 
St. Paul's chapel, 1 replied, "Three o'clock." 

"Very well; I shall put you in charge of 
this office at four! Conic hack at that hour." 

Then followed the most thrilling sixty min- 
utes of my life! A score of times, while 
trudging through the mud or rain, gathering 
figures for my report, I had resolved to re- 
sign. Evidently my twelve years' faithful 
service was not appreciated. 1 was receiving 
a salary of $5,000 per year, hut to be asked 
to perform menial labor such as that in 
which 1 was engaged, hurt my feelings. 
Xow. as a reward. 1 was to he put in charge 
of the Herald, to he made its Managing:- 
Editor to have the wildest ambition of my 
life realized. The top of my profession at 
35! 1 descended the circular staircase to 
Ann Street, thence crossed Broadway to the 
coiner of St. Paul's church-yard. That hour 
was spent in walking- 'round that block, and 
when the clock showed a few minutes of 
four. I returned to the Herald office. "Jim- 
my." Mr. Bennett's colored hoy, was on 
watch for me. 

Taking me by the arm, Mr. Bennett con- 
ducted me to the side of Mr. Flvnn's desk 
and told him 1 was to take his place. Natur- 
ally, I had supposed Mr. Flynn cognizant of 
the intended change; hut the paleness upon 
his face showed utter surprise. I never have 
felt sadder in my life! Here was a man with 
whom I had been intimately associated for 
many years, against whom not a single act 
of meanness or unfairness could he charged. 
Utterly forgetful of the traditions of Herald 
management. I stammered, "Oh! Mr. Flynn; 
I assumed you knew!" I was most untact- 
ful. 

That night. Mr. Bennett personally took 
me to the composing room and. in my pres- 
ence, gave orders to ".lack" Henderson, the 
foreman, that I was to revise the editorial 
page. Whatever I cancelled, was to he left 
out. Thai gave to me supreme authority. 
Oh! Dr. Hepworth! But I had had too 
much experience to get brash. 

Next day. 1 sent a note to a stock-broker 
carrying three hundred shares of stocks for 
me on a margin to sell me out "at best." 
This was done, at a loss of $1,100 to me. 



I nlike some other managing-editors of New 
York newspapers, 1 did not deem it proper 
to he speculating on the Stock Exchange 
when in a position to control the newspaper 
columns of a stock report. I do not criticize 
several acquaintances who have retired from 
similar berths with fortunes; they are wel- 
come to them. Using the custody of another 
man's property for my own enrichment was. 
and is. repugnant to me. 

Mr. Bennett remained in Xew York until 
after the stormy municipal election of that 
year (1886). Under his orders, money was 
literally squandered in getting news; hut the 
infernal circulation didn't move! Mr. Ben- 
nett went hack to Europe, without telling 
anybody. I didn't know of his departure 
until midnight, when 1 learned he was to 
sail on the French liner at (! in the morning. 
He was disgusted — I do not say discouraged. 

I knew something had to he done to start 
the circulation upward. 1 always had been 
a believer in "freak features," if 1 may so 
describe them. There was no "wireless" in 
those days: hut I knew something would 
happen if the circulation didn't rise. In des- 
peration, affecting a jollity 1 did not feel. I 
scattered over the editorial page a dozen para- 
graphs, paraphrased from college cries at the 
various institutions of alleged learning with 
which I was more or less familiar. Next 
morning, among tin- "non-committal" edi- 
torials using the language of Dr. Wallace. 
who had already joined the throng invisible — 
I inserted "freaks," of which this is a sam- 
ple: 

"We arc the stuff, 
We arc the stuff! 

Who're the stuff? 

The Herald's ilie proper stuff — 
That's what the | pic -.a; " 

Some of them were more audacious, going 
to the length of saying "the old Herald has 
waked up," or words to that effect. In do- 
ing this, I burned every bridge behind me. 
Besides. 1 knew it meant a final fight with 
Dr. Hepworth and I was not sure whether 
Mr. Bennett would sustain me. But, I had 
cast an anchor to windward. To every col- 
lege man I knew within the day's circulation 
radius. I had sent a whooping telegram, call- 
ing attention to the college shouts and asking 

o D O 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



11.) 



for a sentiment. Most of those to whom I 
appealed replied in laudatory language. This 
turned the guns against the afternoon papers 
of that day. which said sarcastic things about 
the sanity of tin 1 Herald's new executive edi- 
tor. Result, an increase of 7,200 in circula- 
tion in a week! The abuse heaped upon me 
by the other newspapers aroused curiosity to 
see "the rotten sheet." as one of niv critics 
described the "stuff" edition. 

Dr. Hepworth came to "protest." I was 
fighting for my life and made short work of 
him. If I went down. I'd have my hoots on! 
I do not believe he ever before had heard the 
word "circulation" or knew that I was re- 
sponsible for it! He cabled Paris; but my 
message had been sent the previous night. 
Ilowland looked wise as an owl. and didn't 
understand what was intended. For ten 
days, the Herald, which had dropped out of 
the exchanges, was commented on far and 
wide. I reprinted the most critical notices. 
The local newspapers shut up, after the en- 
dorsements of college men were published. 
The circulation began to move upward, slowly 
but steadily the most encouraging kind of 
growth. That was a busy winter for me. 

1 feel justified in speaking of a few innova- 
tions introduced. When 1 had time to think 
of improvements. I noticed that the baseball 
"averages" were only printed once a week. 
Sending for the editor of the sporting depart- 
ment, I ordered the averages made up and 
published every day. lie said he would have 

to engage another man to make the Calcula- 
te o 

tions, as it was a tedious task. 'No; tell 
the baseball writer to do the figuring after he 
has turned in his account of each day's game." 
There was trouble at first; but 1 appointed 
Alfred Stimer sporting-editor and the "aver- 
ages" appeared daily from that day to this. 
All competitors followed us. 

One night. I had an exceedingly dangerous 
story. The trustee of an estate was accused 
of embezzling funds; but no legal proceed- 
ings had been taken. We had the charges 
and a statement from the accused, denying 
his guilt and putting up a fair answer. I 
couldn't print the accusations with an answer 
below them, because if the matter were set- 
tled out of court, a libel would lie. I hit upon 



what is now known as "the twin head." 
Placing the charges in the first column and 
the self-vindication in the second. 1 bound 
them together, civing equal prominence to 
each, with a two-column head like this: Is 
he a thief? No, he's an honest man." I 
also believe I was first to use a full-page head- 




JULIUS CHAMBERS 

1SS7 



in»\ I never had seen one. at any rate. I 
tried all manner of "freak" headings, con- 
firming my previous opinions about the men- 
tal impressions they create. 

The first conflict I had will: the stall' oc- 
curred when 1 asked a pleasant chap who 
hail been engaged to write editorials on liter- 



110 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



ary themes to review a book. He swelled up 
and said lie had not been hired to do that, 
considered it "beneath his dignity," and 
much more. I was inclined to pass over the 
matter, because, calling a stenographer, 1 
dictated the review myself; but the man 
made the error of telegraphing Mr. Bennett 
that he refused to obey my orders to review 
a hook; he got "fired" by cable for his pains. 

The large daily cartoon, so popular to-day. 
was originated by Mr. Bennett in his Evening 
Telegram. Baron de Grim, an artist with a 
wide European reputation, was imported to 
draw them. The proprietor of the Herald 
had been cartooned in Vanity Fair, of Lon- 
don, with other famous men of his time, and 
he knew that such caricatures do not leave 
wounds. I reproduce that cartoon From a 
copy Mr. Bennett gave to me. 

Mr. Bennett has been a successful corre- 
spondent himself on occasions. lie witnessed 
the bombardment of Alexandria (-Inly 11. 
1882) from the deck of the "Xamouna." and, 
steaming to Malta, cabled a full description 
to New York. During the first insurrection 
in Cuba, the Herald was in sympathy with 



the revolutionists; hut in the early days of 
the Spanish-American troubles that culmi- 
nated in war, he manifested a decidedly pro- 
Spanish sentiment — which was inexplicable. 
because his patriotism was beyond question. 
It is not generally known that Mr. Bennett 
served as a volunteer lieutenant in the United 
States Navy during the Civil War. I possess 
a rare photograph of him in bis uniform. 

Judged by the supreme test of what he has 
accomplished. Mr. Bennett is great in many 
ways. But he is careless of fame. His official 
friendship is like a wax taper — liable to ex- 
tinguishment by the faintest breath of doubt 
or external influence. The criticism of a 
fellow clubman, or of the masseur who rubs 
him down at the "Ilaniniain." often out- 
weighs the mature judgment of his chief edi- 
tor.' 

He is a gentleman always; generous spas- 
modically, to the limit of extravagance; again, 
m business, he is close as a Scotchman. His 
crest is "an owl in the moon." but it might, 
with advantage, be changed to a thistle, with 



the motto 
lacessit. 



of Scotland — A" 



oho me impune 




THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



117 



CHAPTER XIV 



EDITING NEWSPAPERS IN PARIS AND NEW YORK 




EVER was an employer more 
solicitous for the health of his 
employees than Mr. Bennett. 
I literally lived in his office, 
getting there at noon, as a rule, 
and rarely leaving before the 
paper went to press at 2.30. 
Except in Summer. I didn't take any days 
off. Of these facts, my employer appeared 
to he informed, for in many of his letters he 
cautioned me not to work too hard. lie de- 
tailed Mr. White to come early to assist me; 
but I found White ordered rafts of useless 
matter and asked that he he withdrawn. He 
was called to Paris. 

The winter of 1886-'87 was enjoyable, he- 
cause the chief was on a cruise in the "Na- 
mouna" in the Far East. lie visited Java, the 
Straits Settlements. India and Ceylon. I had 
no trouble with anybody. The cablegrams 
from distant points were all kindly and en- 
courairino-. 

In the May of 1887. I received a message 
from Colombo. Ceylon, saying: 'Take Sat- 
urday's French steamer for Havre, await me 
Paris: put Meighan on your desk until re- 
turn." Reaching Paris. I found a despatch 
from Aden: 'Take charge of Galignani's 
Messenger; have bought it. Order plenty 
American news from home office. Shake up 
London : have Hall help." 

What followed the receipt of this second 
message really belongs to the Comedy of 
Journalism, which will be dealt with else- 
where. 

That evening, I walked into the office of 
Galignani, introduced myself to Editors Fox 
and Robillard; told them of my orders, hung 
up my coat and sat down at a vacant desk. 
Sending for the foreman, M. Maiernard, 1 in- 
formed him I had taken charge for Mr. Ben- 
nett, and ordered proofs of all "standing mat- 
ter." He was also directed to give to me sam- 



ples of all display type that could be used for 
headings. A cablegram was rushed to New 
York, ordering 2,000 words sent to "Gali- 
gnani, Paris." London was told to double its 
service by the private wire. A. Oakey Hall, 
the Herald's London correspondent, was told 
to duplicate over the < lalii/iiaiii wire, matter 
prepared for Herald, lit two hours, the dull 
place had the bustle of a New York office. 
Evening papers contained suggestions for two 
"good stories." Galignani hadn't any re- 
porters. So. 1 assigned myself to one of the 
articles and asked Mr. King to attend to the 
other. He was much shocked, but obeyed. 
W- landed our articles and wrote them dur- 
ing lulls in the receipt of telegraphic matter. 
New York responded gallantly. London was 
behind America: the special wire worked 
badly. (It always did. Messages were re- 
ceived on an old printing-telegraph machine.) 

Xext morning a fifty-year reader of (lali- 
gnani would not have recognized the sheet! 
My editorial predecessor, William Makepeace 
Thackeray, would have been startled had it 
been delivered at his present abode, wher- 
ever that may be. From an American stand- 
point, "spread heads" on the first page were 
highly temperate, but they gave the purport of 
the matter underneath. Captions like "Lat- 
est from Berlin," or "Yesterday in America" 
were missing. The editorial page was reduced 
to one column. A lot of "canned leaders." 
contracted for by the month, were thrown into 
the waste-basket. To express my disrespect 
for the "non-committal" English paragraph, 
I asked the office boy to write a few para- 
graphs. He was a London cockney: 1 told 
him to discuss a cabman's strike in the Eng- 
Iish capital, and a rise in price of meat at the 
I [alls ( 'entrals. With editing, which amounted 
to re-writing, the boy's work was excellent. 

This charivari continued, nightly, for two 
weeks before the supposed proprietor reached 



IIS 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Paris. I never had so much fun in my life! 
The Paris bureau of the New York Herald 
co-operated valiantly. Mr. ('. Inman Barnard 
was a whole team; Mr. C. Henry Meltzer 
was great on music, drama and art. A young 
Englishman was retained to do the horse- 
racing and professional duels. Miss Effie 
Evans visited the holds, getting English and 
American gossip. The hills were large; but 
Mr. Bennett never did anything in a small 
way and 1 had no fear of a day of reckoning. 

Meanwhile, I was acquiring information 
about the cost of producing a daily newspaper 
of small circulation in Paris. I investigated 
the advertising, which consisted chiefly of 
French and Swiss hotels. 'Idle hooks showed 
that many of the accounts had been drawn 
against far ahead. Paris advertising amount- 
ed to little. The Matin printed Galignani 
and appropriated all its special features, — an 
intolerable thing, because vve got almost noth- 
ing of a news character in return. Its editor 
was suffering from an incurable disease and 
I could not tell him how I felt about his con- 
duct; it savored of picking a quarrel with a 
baby in an incubator. 

One evening during June, I went to Les 
Ambassadeurs. a cafe cliantant on the Champs 
Elysses, and heard Paulus sing "En Revenant 
de la Rente." It had "go." I bought a copy 
of the song and music, forwarded it to New* 
York with orders to publish it on July 14, 
and to get Patrick Gilmore to march his 
band up Broadway playing it. This was done 
and "Boulanger's March, "as it came to be 
known, took New York city by storm. 

When, however, copies of the Herald of 
July 14 reached Paris, Paulus learned that 
it contained his song. He secured the services 
of a process-server and seized all copies of the 
Herald of that date to be found in the Paris 
office. When told of the "outrage'* by M. 
Giraud, the cashier, 1 decided to get some 
advertising out of the incident. Marking ink 
was secured and 1 covered the large windows 
of the office with sheets of paper announcing 
a "seizure of the New York Herald by the 
authorities." A thousand people soon assem- 
bled in front of 41) Avenue de 1'Opera. Lon- 
don newspapers gave the incident half a col- 
umn each. 



Mr. Bennett arrived in fine spirits. He had 
received bundles of the new Galignani at 
Brindisi, Genoa and Nice and seemed to be 
pleased with the work, although he carefully 
refrained from saying so. An employee at 
Galignani's had asked me if the will of the 
founder of the newspaper had been examined; 
I spoke to Mr. Bennett about the matter. He 
called his avocat, who admitted that he had 
not gone beyond the statements of the Brothers 
Jeancourt, present owners and nephews of the 
original M. Galignani. A visit to the Register 
of Wills, by whatever title he is known, re- 
vealed an amazing clause in the will of the 
late M. Galignani, positively forbidding that 
the name of the paper should pass out of his 
family! 

What was to be done.'' The American edi- 
tor had agreed to pay a huge sum for the 
property, assuming he was buying "lock, 
stock and barrel." namely, title, plant and 
good-will. On the contrary, he was getting 
only a lot of badly worn type and a collection 
of advertising contracts at low rates, many of 
which had been drawn upon a year in ad- 
vance. Characteristically, the American de- 
cided to drop the matter. 

"If you are intent on having a journal in 
Paris," 1 volunteered, "start one." 

" What will it cost ?" 

"Seven thousand, five hundred and sixty- 
six francs and seventy-five centimes per week," 
I answered, promptly. 

"How do you know?" I had expected that 
question and drew the following memoran- 
dum from my pocket: 

"Composition, 1,560; Editors, 1,166 (this 
does not include work done by me or your 
Paris staff, charged to Paris office) : Telegraph 
operator, 100; Tirage (printing), 500; De- 
part (mailing and circulation), 410; Postage, 
182; Paper (4,500 copies). .jS^.T.J; Counting 
room, 410; Cabling, 875; London wire, 
917.50; Rent, 192; (bis. 170; Petty expenses 
(average), 00; and Gerant (publisher, who 
stands for libels), 12.50." And I passed the 
memorandum across the table at which we 
sat. 

"How much will a plant cost?" 

"The type will have to be bought in Lon- 



I IK BOOK of NEW YORK 



1 1!) 



don and shipped over; also the cases," 1 an- 
swered. "'Its cost installed, types 'laid,' will 
be $7,325. I know a place in a large impri- 
merie on the Rue ('<»([ Heron that can he 
rented for 6,000 francs per year; the deposit 
and plumbing for the gas wdl cost 425 francs 
($85). AMiat the cost of heating in winter 
will be I do not know. You will need a tele- 
phone, say 300 francs annually. A complete 
set of all the Paris newspapers, morning and 
evening will be— 

'That will do! I'll wire Jack Henderson 
to come bv first steamer. How long will it 
take to get a special wire to London?" 

'That is not an easy task; but 1 should 
say two weeks. There's much red tape. I 
can go to London and buy the type, engage 
the printers 

"Very well; don't go to Galignani to-night. 
Tell Barnard and Meltzer to give the Herald 
their whole attention." 

The old journal was very nearly not mak- 
ing its appearance next morning! New York 
did not send any news; Oakey Hall ceased. 
The clamor for copy was hard to satisfy. I 
never entered Galignani's again. 

Instead. I had on my hands a contract to 
start a wholly new enterprise. After 1 hail 
secured the London wire, rented an office, 
secured printers, bought the necessary outfit 
of type, cases, stands, and gas fixtures. Mr. 
Bennett handed to me a weekly credit at 
Rothschilds and jumped into a cab for St. 
Lazare railway station, en route to New 
York — as John A. Cockerill wittily said, "To 
edit his Paris paper by cable." 

When the excitement of departure had 
passed. I glanced at my credit with the great- 
est banking-house in Europe. The checks 
were dated one week apart, for nine weeks, 
and each was exactly 7,566.75 francs! 

The first number of the Paris edition of the 
Herald appeared on the date promised (Oct. 
10, 1887). On the previous afternoon. I had 
been authorized to distribute 2. 000 francs 
among the kiosk keepers along the Boule- 
vards; the paper was sold out. Although my 
hours averaged IS out of 24. I enjoyed the 
work. My estimate was only exceeded on one 
pay-day, and that bv 200 francs, which I 



personally paid and said nothing about. Ow- 
ing to an oversight by the firm that supplied 
the paper. Ihe stock was short one night and 
Barnard and I had to drive to the other side 
of the Seine, awaken a night- watchman, con- 
vince him of our identity (which was not easy) 
and bring Ihe white paper hack in two cabs. 
Paris has not been the same to Americans 
since Robert and Lucy Hooper died. Mrs. 
Hooper was for a generation one of the best- 
known members of the American colony. The 
Hoopers were at the height of popularity dur- 
ing !<SS7. when 1 lived in Pans. The family 
dwelt in a large flat on the Rue dvs Petits 
Champs, in the heart of the bustling city. 
Their Sunday night receptions were delight- 
ful features of a stay at the French capital. 
Many of the brightest men and women of 
Europe were to be met there. Monet Sully 
and Sara Bernhardt were of ten guests : Wynd- 

O • 

ham and Irving rarely visited Paris without 
dropping in on a Sunday evening. This Phil- 
adelphia couple created the only American 
salon that endured a dozen changes of Min- 
isters. 

One evening, Daniel Dougherty recited 
King Henry's advice to his son. A young 
actor from the Theatre Francais stood before 
"the silver tongued" orator, who. being for 
the time a king, spoke seated. Dougherty 
talked the wonderful lines of Shakespeare in 
such a natural manner that the scene became 
real. The actor '"son" listened most respect- 
fully, although he did not understand a word 
of the English language. 

"Boh" Hooper was not literary; hut he 
was an epicure. lie knew where the best 
cafes could be found; he was a judge of 
Burgundy. I once drove with him to Old 
Paris, across the Isle of St. Louis, to taste 
delicious brands of wines he had discovered. 
Where he procured his mint I never knew, 
hut he could concoct a julip that feared no 
rival in the Blue Grass land of Kentucky or 
in the Piedmont Valley of Virginia. 

When the Paris edition was launched. I 
returned to the managing desk in New York. 
The memorable event of the following year 
for Xew Yorkers will always lie the blizzard 
on March II. 12 and l.S. Xew York was 
isolated for several days. One managing- 



120 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



editor got his Boston news by way of Ireland, 
sent orders therefor to Cape Ann by the 
Mackay-Bennett cables and received reply by 
the same route. All electric lights were out 
for two nights. 1 slept on a table in the 
Herald office. The snow drifted to such 
depths that many people had to tunnel from 
the basements of their dwellings. The day 
before that blizzard, dear old Walt Whitman 
sent to me a pretty little verse, entitled "The 
First Violet of Spring." I marked it for the 
editorial page and went home early. It was 
a beautiful night. When the paper was on 
the streets next morning, the joke was on me. 
Town and country were in the grasp of the 
Storm King! Ten thousand gods of trouble 
were loosed! I didn't hear the last of "The 
First Violet" for many a day. Poor Walt 
felt badly about the mishap as if he were to 
blame and didn't want to accept the money 
1 sent to him for the brief verse. When 1 last 
saw him. shortly before his death, he apolo- 
gized for the upset of the Weather Bureau. 
Again, when I stood beside his tomb as a 
pallbearer. I tenderly recalled his self-abne- 
gation and sorrow over the discomfiture of a 
poet and an editor by the Bowers of all-potent 
Nature. 

An example of what 1 had to endure will 
suffice. The following poem, written in mock 
Walt Whitman style, appeared in a contem- 
porary : 

TO .1 C, PERSONAL AM) AFFECTIONATE. 

"The weather to-day in New York ami its vicinity promises to be 
generally lair ami cooler, preceded by partial cloudiness near the 
coast. To-morrow, it promises to be slightlj warmer ami generally 
fair."— Weather Report in the- II, ml, I. March 12, 1888. 

NO Villi. Els FOR HIM. 

Roaring, imperial beauty, Julius, icicicular, valvular, confiscating, 
diamond-sheened, sun-dazzling, 

Montana blizzard, Dakota blizzard — blizzard from Buffalo-land; 

Julius, weather-prophet, stormy-eyed, accurate. Antic in sunshine, 
tropical amid the snows; 

I [erald-governing, salary-raising Julius! 

Lord of tin- cable, tin- win-, the thin, clammy type, millions of spray- 
like sheets: 

No bananas, nor oranges, nor feathery pines, nor odorous pine-cones; 

Nor mint-julips, fragrant with spices ami fruit, cold with hurried, 
tumbling ice — 

Hut hyperborean nighl, sombre, deadening nightl 

( ) .luliiis. with the weather prophet's eye! 

Walt Whitman. 

Days afterward, when I obtained the origi- 
nal copy, I recognized the handwriting as that 



of mv beloved friend, John Russell Young. 
This shows the cameraderie and jollity that ex- 
isted in the Herald office during the storm, 
when most of the editors and reporters slept 
upon tables, under their overcoats. In the 
press-room "blankets" were taken from the 
presses for wrappings. 

Never in the history of the metropolis has 
there been such a period of complete commer- 
cial and social stagnation as lasted for the 
greater part of Blizzard week. Stacks of 
snow, created between the car tracks and the 
sidewalk, grew to incredible heights. A sin- 
gle instance will suffice. 

In the autumn of that same year, 1SSS, I 
was standing at the second-story window of 
the Herald Building, corner of Ann Street and 
Broadway. At my side stood the owner of the 
newspaper, who dwelt abroad. I was attempt- 
ing to describe the paralyzing effects of the 
'" blizzard." 

"Would you believe that I stood exactly 
where we are and could not see even the hats 
of men passing in front of St. Paul's Chapel?" 
I asked. 

The Franco-American didn't reply imme- 
diately; he watched the throng of men and 
women hurrying north and south along the 
pavement, on the opposite side of Broadway. 

"It seems incredible," he finally said. 

So it did; but it was absolutely true and I 
could have secured corroboration from a score 
of men who spent days and nights in that 
building during that stress of weather. 

A mystery of mysteries in the newspaper 
world existed for several years regarding the 
means by which the Herald scored its great 
"beat" in 1SS7 by printing President Cleve- 
land's message in full on the morning of the 
day it was sent to Congress. I was respon- 
sible for that "scoop," and in a long experi- 
ence this is the only instance in which I lit- 
erally had an "exclusive" forced upon me. 
I kept the secret; but Charles Nordhoff, who 
happened to be in the office that night, over- 
heard part of the conversation, divined the 
rest and told the story at a dinner party at 
Washington. Here is the explanation: 

From a source unknown to me. William 
Henry Smith. New York manager of the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



121 



Associated Press, received word thai the 
Herald had surreptitiously obtained an ad- 
vance copy of the President's message and 
intended to print it in full in the morning. 
As the Associated Press was custodian of the 
document, until its distribution to customers 
on the following day. Mr. Smith was greatly 
distressed. lie sought to prevent premature 
publication! He hurried across Broadway, 
climbed a long flight of stairs and demanded 
an audience with the Herald's managing edi- 
tor. 1 saw him at once. 

"I understand the Herald has obtained the 
President's message in an underhanded manner 
and intends to print it to-morrow before it 
has been delivered to Congress?" 

" Indeed ?" said I. 

"Now, von mustn't do this!" Smith con- 
tinued, gasping for breath. 'The Herald is 
a member of the Associated Press, and the 
honor of this association is pledged not to 
circulate this document until to-morrow after- 
noon." 

"Well, really," I managed to say, merely 
to await developments; "what you may or 
may not do is of no consequence to the Herald, 
and will not influence it in the least." 

"But. sir, I am assured that you are at 
(his moment setting up the matter and in- 
tend to print it to-night !" 

"Suppose we are; what then?" I excused 
myself and walked into the library to catch 
my breath, for somebody had been imposing 
upon the Associated Press agent. We did not 
have and didn't expect to have the message 
ahead of its delivery by the association. 

"What will you do?" demanded Mr. Smith, 
anxiously, on my return. 

" If we have it. we shall print it." I retorted. 
'This establishment doesn't change its plans 
at the whim or behest of anybody." 

"Very well!" exclaimed the visitor. "I'll 
defeat your little scheme: I will send out the 
message to-night! All shall fare alike." And 
Mr. Smith flung himself out of the room in high 
dudgeon. 

Such had been my hope. Sending for -lack 
Henderson, the foreman. I directed him to be 
in readiness to set an extra page at a late 
hour, as the President's message was ex- 



pected. Sure enough, in came the document 
about 1 o'clock! ttesult, the Herald had a 
page of the message set. corrected and in the 
stereotype-room before 2 o'clock; other pa- 
pers, not being prepared to handle so large an 
article at thai hour, could only use a few dis- 
connected paragraphs which they were ac- 
cused of stealing from us! Thus was a fin • 
"scoop" scored by diplomacy: but Mi'. 
Smith congratulated himself, for years, at 
having "defeated tlie machinations of an 
enterprising but unscrupulous newspaper." 

The writing of headings is an art in itself. 
Like the title of a book, the heading should 
pique the reader's curiosity, as well as set 
forth all the important facts in the article. 
There are rare occasions in which it is ad- 
visable to express editorial opinions in a head- 
ing. The best example that recurs to me 
was the republication in the Herald of .lay 
Gould's scandalous attack upon James Gor- 
don Bennett. July !i. 1SSS. That letter was 
put in type in the Tribune office, and proofs 
were sent late at night to every New York 
paper, except the Herald. It was positively 
refused to that journal, whose proprietor was 
assailed! The responsible editor was a very 
anxious man that night, but secured a proof 
of the offensive letter after one o'clock. The 
article was probably the most venomous and 
contemptible ever published. I have since 
learned that Mr. Gould did not write it. but 
was induced to sign it while in a condition of 
rage over a complication during a fight of the 
rival cable lines. 

Appalled as the editor was at the slanderous 
charges made against his chief, after a careful 
reading he decided to print the letter, without 
the omission of a word, in Mr. Bennett's own 
paper. This was an awful responsibility, but 
lie assumed it, for two reasons: First, because 
he personally knew that the slanderous charges 
were false, and, second, because he wanted to 
utterly destroy the injurious effeel of the whole 
article — to "scotch the snake" at once! Only 
one means remained in which to do this: 
The heading! The editorial page had gone to 
press, and I doubt if its use would have been 
so effective. While the article was going into 
type, the editor wrote the lop line now famous 
in Printing House Square 'Tin: Consul! 



1 22 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Raves." Then followed: "Jay Gould, the 
Pirate of Wall Street, Signs ;m Infamously 
False Personal Onslaught on the Herald's 
Proprietor.- Honored by This Attack of a 
Sneak and a Coward. — Though Addressed to 
the Editor of the Herald, the Screed is Re- 
fused Is for Publication: lint We Secure It 
and Print It in Full to Show What Kind of 
an Animal Gould Is. Isn't lie a Skunk?" 

That heading did the business. It wasn't 
"nice." but it was desperately effective. 

The letter was forgotten. 

The incident that caused me to leave Mr. 
Bennett is typical. An offer had been made 
to me to join the World, but had been grate- 
fully declined. Weeks afterward, I received a 
long cablegram abusing me for a bad night 
at the office of the Paris edition. I was 
charged with having recommended Albert 
Ives as its editor, when the fact was 1 had 
journeyed from Paris to Vichy to protest against 
his selection. Of course, I was not to blame 
for a contretemps in Paris. Disgusted and 
sore. I went to the Astor House' for luncheon. 
There I met ( 'olonel John A. Cockerill and 
sat down beside him. After a few minutes, 
he drew from his pocket a cablegram from 
his chief. Joseph Pulitzer, dated St. Moritz, 
that morning, directing him to see me again, 
to renew his offer and to increase the salary to 
$250 per week, with a three years' contract. 
The proposition found me in a mood to accept 
the offer. When I returned to my desk, a 



cablegram lav thereon announcing that Mr. 
Bennett had left for New York. It was the 
part of honor to await his arrival. This I did. 
Although he was very civil and made no men- 
tion of his unjust cablegram, I promptly noti- 
fied him of my intended departure. He 
treated the matter as a joke and. after he had 
left the office that afternoon, sent his boy, 
Jimmy, to invite me to breakfast with him 
next morning. I returned my thanks but 
begged to be excused. This made the editor 
very angry; he wrote and wanted to print an 
obituary notice of me. He was dissuaded by 
a meddlesome editor — a man I had recom- 
mended for City Editor. 1 have seen that 
manuscript and regret its suppression. 

Thus came to an end a devoted service of 
fifteen years, during which I literally occupied 
every desk in the Herald office. Air. Bennett 
never shook hands with any employee; but 
since leaving him I have met him in several 
parts of the world and he has always held out 
his hand with cordiality. 

He is a splendid master to serve, when 
near at hand; but when far away — influenced 
by suspicions and malicious reports from 
secret agents- his temperament becomes so 
mercurial that praise is dangerous because 
it is always followed by censure; the thought 
of the proprietor probably is that commenda- 
tion is likely to enlarge the vanity of an em- 
ployee. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



12:5 



CHAPTER XV 



A NEW WOULD 




I IK first day in a strange office 
is something to he remembered. 
When I walked into the World 
office and was shown to the 
room assigned to the Manag- 
in»- Editor, I did not know five 
men in the establishment. ( !oI- 
onel Cockrill, who retained charge of the 
editorial page, was merely an acquaintance. 
James A. Graham, the City Editor, who 
proved to be pure gold, was unknown to me; 
likewise Mr. Fiske. the night editor. When 
I entered the editorial council that afternoon 
everv man, except Cockrill, was a stranger. 
It was easy to see I was in for a hard task, 
until I learned something about the capacity 
of each man. 

My first surprise — shock is a better word 
came when I sent for a reporter and told him 
to undertake a trip that involved considerable 
travel and some difficulties. To my amaze- 
ment, he began to argue and to suggesf that 
another correspondent, whom he named, could 
do better than he! This was a new experience, 
with my fifteen years' Herald training, where 
declination to serve implied resignation. Of 
course, any man who went unwillingly at a 
task was likely to fail. I told this gentleman 
he must try it or resign. I saw an utter end 
of discipline if orders did not go. He went to 
Colonel Cockrill. but the latter told him my 
authority was absolute. He went on his mis- 
sion and was entirely successful. Hut I made 
the discovery that "organization" and "dis- 
cipline" were not favored by my chief. His 
idea was that he secured better results by 
playing man against man! 

First intelligence of the terrible Johnstown 
flood. July of the following year, reached the 
office late al night. The flood had broken 
about dark, but destruction of all telegraphic 
communication with the stricken town pre- 
vented news of the disaster from reaching 



New York until about 11 o'clock. Every 
available man was seized upon and sen I west. 
Mr. Farrellv. on the copy desk, was appointed 
to take charge of the force. To gain lime, a 
man in Albany on a special mission was sent 
to Pittsburg by the Central and was first to 
reach the news field: he was young and loo 
inexperienced to improve his supreme oppor- 
tunity, although he rendered efficient service 
subsequently under direction. Men were sent 
by midnighf trains on the Erie, Baltimore & 
Ohio and Pennsylvania railroads. The extent 
of the disaster, which sacrificed 4,000 lives, 
was not known until the following day. 

A semi-humorous episode developed from 
that fii'st night's work. Knowing Johnstown, 
which 1 had once visited on the occasion of a 
strike. I took the Associated Press despatches, 
necessarily fragmentary, and rewrote them into 
a semblance of unity. One of the messages, 
clearly imaginative, described a usual evening 
gathering at the post-office, while the black 
clouds were hovering over the eastern hills. 
One townsman was reported as saying lo an- 
other, " Pig storm in the mountains ?" ' Yes, 
looks like it; we shall have a shower before 
long." Then I added, with a blue pencil, 
"but it hail rained before in Johnstown." 
Two weeks later, when the news vane had 
veered to another direction, I received a cable- 
gram from Mr. Pulitzer especially commend- 
ing the first night's work and directing me to 
send his check for $200 to the man who w role 
(he despatch containing the words. "Il hail 

rained before in Johnstown." That money 
never was drawn and the circumstances are 
here stated for the firsl time. 

"Jersey" Chamberlain, of I he Sun, beat 
everybody lo the dam and had the first ex- 
planation of the cause of the calamity. The 
responsible man of the World's corps had been 
telegraphed more than once daily. "Send or 
go to the dam!" lie sent a weak vassal, who 



P24 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



was scared by a ten-mile tramp through the 
woods. 1 1 was the only feature on which we 
were "beaten." In the face of positive order 
Por one man's discharge, 1 smoothed the mat- 
ter over and retained him. 

George W. Turner, publisher of the World. 
and I had one serious dispute, although we 
afterwards became staunch friends. The idea 
occurred to me, one night, to put an announce- 
ment of the weather for the next day in the 
right-hand "ear" of the front page. [The 
'"ears" of a newspaper, let me explain, are 
the small corners at the right and left of its 
heading.] It had seemed to me an admirable 
thought. Every buyer of a World at a stand 
could see. by a glance, what kind of weather 
the Washington Bureau had predicted. As 
readers will recall. I had had my own expe- 
rience with the Weather Bureau and did not 
"back it in the betting" after '"The First 
Violet" mishap on Blizzard Eve. Mi-. Turner 
took the ground that the "ears" belonged to 
the business office. We had a warm conver- 
sation. 1 couldn't prove my contention, any 
more than he could establish his. Mean- 
while, every other newspaper in the country 
jumped into the ring, adopted the thought 
and put the World in Coventry. I wish I 
had time to hunt up that innovation. The 
Herald is the only newspaper in the United 
States, so far as my observation goes, that has 
not adopted my suggestion. The World had 
to trail after a thousand other newspapers had 
seized upon its idea. 

A man on the World to whom I was soon 
attracted by his frankness, demonstrated effi- 
ciency and, above all. loyalty, was George 
Harvey. He had charge of the New Jersey 
department a large, news field of high im- 
portance and under his direction were twen- 
ty-five local reporters in the principal towns of 
the state. Unlike many newspaper men. he 
fully understood the embarrassments of an ex- 
ecutive editor in a strange office, before I lie 
special capacities of individual editors and 
reporters had been learned. I especially re- 
call this generous trait of his character. 
Harvey was at that time an aid-de-camp on 
the staff of Governor Green, of New Jersey, 
lull he did not use the title of Colonel. Later 
he held the same office under Governor Ab- 




Cul GEO. B \I HARVEY 



bett, and his friends were rejoiced at this 

recognition of his fit- 
ness. Subsequently he 
was appointed Insur- 
ance Commissioner of 
New Jersey, but re- 
turned to journalism in 
the winter of 1891 as 
managing-editor of the 
World. He then en- 
tered commercial life 
for a while, his most 
noteworthy a c h i e v e- 
ment of that period 
being the construction 
of various electric rail- 
ways, in which work 
he was extremely successful, financially. Col- 
onel Harvey purchased the Metropolitan Mat/- 
azine, but sold it to buy the North American 
Review, of which he has since been editor. 
Becoming editor of Harper's Weekly, in 1 !)().'{. 
he was soon made president of Harper & Bros., 
and has since managed that historic publish- 
ing house. He is a director in the Audit 
Company of New York and the Windsor 
Trust < Company. 

Col. George (Brinton McClellan) Harvey 

was born at Peachani. Yt.. February. 1864, and 
was educated at the academy of his native 
town. He began his experience in journalism 
on the Springfield Republican, then went to 
the Chicago News and afterwards came to the 
New York World. The honorary degree of 
LL.D. has been conferred upon him by the 
University of Nevada and Erskine College. 
Recently he has been appointed honorary 
Colonel and Aide-de-Camp on the staffs of 
Governors Heyward and Ansel, of South 
Carolina. He is an Independent Democrat. 
takes an active interest in national politics, an 
admirable after-dinner speaker, as well as a 
popular orator, and is a member of many 
social organizations. He is also a trustee of 
the Stevens Institute of Technology at Hobo- 
ken. He is identified with New Jersey, own- 
ing a country home at Deal, where he spends 
a large part of the year. 

Another man I encountered in the World 
office was Sereno S. Pratt, then representing 
the Philadelphia Public Ledger. I formed a 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



125 



high opinion of him, for he was a frequent 
visitor owing to the fact that George x \ . 
Child's newspaper was accorded all the re- 
sources of the World establishment. Mr. 
Pratt is to-day Secretary of the Xew York 
Chamber of Commerce, a position of high 
honor and of life tenure, for the duties of which 
lie is admirably qualified. We are fellow 
members of Kane Lodge, 4.>4. F. and A. M 
lie is successor to George Wilson, whom 1 had 
known intimately from INTO until the time of 
his death. 

The greatest newspaper sensation of that 
period was the trip of "Nelly lily" 'round the 
world to beat the record of "Phileas Fogg," 
Jules Verne's hero in "Round the World in 
Eighty Days." The idea was George W. 
Turner's; hut most of the details fell to me. 
1 arranged the call of the young woman upon 
M.Verne at Amiens. ( )n ** Miss lily's" return, 
I went to Philadelphia in a private car to 
bring the tourist to Xew York. A score of 
distinguished New Yorkers were guests: quite 
a lot of speech-making and a luncheon were 
incidents. Great crowds had gathered at 
every station along the line. At Philadelphia 
the crush was so great that gates were broken 
down. 

The Sullivan-Kilrain prize fight was a "big 
seller." I sent Vincent Cook, a Philadelphia 
boy and good sparrer, to report the fight. A 
special wire was laid from the nearest town 
to the ring-side and George II. Dickinson, an 
expert telegraphist, was there. When I re- 
ceived word that the direct wire was working. 
I sent to Cook the following message: 

(link. World correspondent: Every man is on post; 
editors, printers, pressmen stand by to serve yon to- 
night! Send one million words! God and the Devil 
lie with yon. CHAMBERS. 

With a wire from the ring-side in Louisiana 
into the office, we received and printed a page 
account next morning. 

The introduction of electrocution occurred 
in 1889. A commission had been created in 
L 886, composed of Elbridge T. Gerry, of New 
York City. Dr. A. P. Southwick, of Buffalo, 
and Matthew Hale, of Albany, to report upon 
the feasibility of executing criminals by elec- 
tricity. Their report is a complete history of 
the death penalty from the earliest Mosaic age 



to date. It states that 10 countries at that 
time used (he guillotine; l!> the sword; .'! the 
gallows; 2 the musket: I (Brunswick) the 
axe; I the cord, and 1 the garrote. It is a 
remarkable report. The law took effect .Ian. 
1. 1889, and publication of the details of any 
execution in this state was made a misde- 




OPENING OF THl BROOKLYN BRIDGE 
[A Drawing by H. I'm. it Share] 



nieanor. That part of the law was defied by 
the newspapers, as abridging the powers of 
the press. William Kemler was the first mur- 
derer executed. I sent a piece of the electric 
cable connecting the condemned with the dy- 
namo to the Whitechapel Club of Chicago. 
A curious outcome of the agitation in favor of 
the death penalty was the formation of the 
American Execution Company, in Chicago, 
"to destroy persons convicted of capital 



126 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



offenses." Its motto was 'No bungling!" 

The greal local evenl of the year was the 
Washington Centenary celebration, April 29, 
80 and May 1. To tell the history of the 
first inauguration in readable shape, 1 scut 
W. L. Crounse, from Washington, with an 
artist and in a four-horse stage, to Mouni 
Vernon. He started from thai poini at the 
hour General Washington had departed tlnn 
years before) and drove to Elizabethport, over 
the same route the first President had followed, 
stopping where he stopped. It made four- 
davs' interesting reading. President Harrison 
completed the journey, leaving Elizabethporl 
at the hour Washington had departed. The 
parade on Fifth Avenue was one of the most 
national in character ever -ecu. Nearly every 
state sent a delegation, headed by its Gover- 
nor, who rode horseback. 

James (i. Blaine sent his famous letter 
from Florence, Italy, refusing to be a candidate 
for the presidential nomination on January 
25, 1SSS. giving the job to Harrison. In the 
fall of 1889, I went to Europe on a six weeks' 
vacation. My intention was to rest in Paris 
and to take the treatment at Wiesbaden. The 
first morning in the French capital. I received 
a ** pointer" from a friend, returned from 
Milan, that a Dr. Fornoni of that city had 
said Mr. Blaine was "out of his mind for a 
month while in Italy." The old reporter's 
feeling came over me and that nighl 1 was in 
a "wagon-bed," bound for Milan. Morning 
overtook meal Basle; a delightful ride across 
Switzerland bl'OUghl me through the St. 
Gothard tunnel to Como and Milan, at dark. 
1 drove to the Hotel Cavour and after dinner 
went to lied to summon Dr. Fornoni. who 
came and diagnosticated my case as pneu- 
monia! After he left. 1 dressed and went to 
the opera at I. a Scala. The physician came 
next morning and at the end of three days, 
having gained his confidence, he described to 
me pooi- Mr. Blaine's madness. Put he knev 
nothing of the "Florence letter." The states- 
man had been a patient of a Dr. Baldwin, at 
Florence. 

1 forgo! vacation and need of rest. 

Florence lor me! 1 reached that prettiest 
of Italian cities next day. going (as 1 had in 
Milan) to the hotel at which Mr. Blaine 



had stopped Hotel Florence et Washington. 

A cab took me to Dr. Baldwin's villa. He 
was absent at a consultation when 1 arrived, 
hut 1 was (old to wait. Taking a seat at a 
window that gave upon the approach to the 
front door. 1 soon saw the host arrive, 1 
studied him as he came briskly up the gravel 
walk and in that brief space decided upon my 
method of approach. He looked the personi- 
fication of professional dignity -a man likely 
to stand l>v the ethics of his fellows if I sought 
information in the usual way and for the 
avowed purpose of publication. It was neces- 
sary, therefore, to dissemble; hut 1 desired to 
do so within the lines of truth. 

The instant the physician appeared at the 
doorway of his drawing-room. I rose and. 
speaking as rapidly as possible, demanded: 

"Am I addressing Dr. Baldwin.-" 

" \ ou are." 

"Well. Dr. Baldwin. 1 am an American: 
also, a Republican and a long-while personal 
friend of Mr. Blaine. Like all his other ad- 
mirers, who have supported him in the past, 
and those whose future depended upon Mr. 
Blaine's continuance in public life. 1 was 
chagrined and heart-broken at his letter of 
declination sent from this city, literally throw- 
ing away the presidency to Mr. Harrison. 
Now. sir. 1 have recently learned it was by 
your advice that Mr. Blaine wrote that fool- 
ish, needless and dreadfully disappointing 
letter that wrecked his political career, as 
well as destroyed the hopes and ambitions of 
his friends throughout 1 1 it" United States! 
This matter is SO amazing to me, that, as a 
representative of the stauiichest friends of 
Mr. Blaine -men who have known him in 
and out of Congress and appreciate his grand 
qualities better than a mere casual acquaint- 
ance like yourself could have done -I demand 
to know why you advised the writing of that 
declination ? Friends of Mr. Blaine have a 
right to know your reasons, that they may, if 
possible, mitigate their wrath toward you 
when they learn what has just come to my 
ears as they certainly shall on my return to 
New York. Tell me. sir. why you assumed 
this tremendous responsibility?" 

'* I saved Mr. Blaine's life by so advising 
.... 
him. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



127 



"That, sir, is a purely Hippocratic assump- 



tion 



i" 



"Sit down, and I will convince you thai 1 
acted for the best," said Dr. Baldwin. "Of 
course, not being a politician. I did not com- 
prehend the far-reaching effects such a course 
would have upon the vast following of Mr. 
Blaine. 1 see your point and it is only fair 
and proper that I state my side of the case. 
I will tell you everything, beginning with Mr. 
Blaine's arrival and my first summons to his 
hotel." 

The narrative lasted for an hour. Not a 
detail was omitted. During the recital, I 
maintained a gravely serious and injured ex- 
pression. Whenever the physician halted. 1 
prodded him with questions, in a semi-indig- 
nant tone. 1 got a page "story." which 
caused me to overlook the ruin of my vaca- 
tion. 

In reply to a copy of the printed matter 

sent to him. Dr. Baldwin wrote a courteous 
letter, saving he was "lad the facts were out. 

I had returned to London when Wilkie 
Collins died. I passed an afternoon with 
Blanche Roosevelt, who understood the nov- 
elist better than any of his new friends. 
Dickens, Reade and other intimates had 
passed away. It was generally known that 
Collins became a slave to drugs during the 
latter part of his life. Miss Roosevelt assured 
me that the character of Obenreiser, in "No 
Thoroughfare," was the absolute creation of 
Collins. I then repeated to her a little dis- 
tich 1 hail heard Kate Field utter, sponta- 
neously, about the time of Dickens' death. 
when she exclaimed, as if in answer to an 
inquiry: 

Wlin wrote "No Thoroughfare?" 

Surely not "15<>z." 

Collins it was. 
lie wrote "NO Thoroughfare.' 

Such has been the verdict of posterity. 
The story is always omitted from sets of 
Dickens and always included in editions of 
Collins. The clock-lock incident was so im- 
probable as to cause the story to lie classed 
among the "penny dreadfuls." To-day. every 
bank has lime locks upon its safes. 

The end of November found me back at 
mv desk in New York. 



The important event of L891 was the crea- 
tion of a Rapid Transit Commission, origi- 
nally composed of William Steinway, John II. 
Starin, Samuel Spencer. John II. Innian and 
Eugene I>. Bushe. That was the starting- 
poinl of the splendid system of subways with 
which Greater New York is blessed. The 
city debt was actually decreased during this 
year by over hall' a million. .Much was made 
of the fact by Mayor Grant's friends, although 
an increase of $1,116,399 occurred the follow- 
ing year. A decision was reached in the Til- 
den will by the Court of Appeals. It was 
against the city receiving the gift; but one of 
the heirs generously surrendered his entire 
portion of $2,000,000, to make good his uncle's 
promises. This assured the construction of 
the Tilden Library, designed by Carrere & 
Hastings and opened to the public in 1911. 
The Carnegie .Music Hall was opened May .">. 
and the rose was chosen as the New York 
State flower by a vote taken on Arbor Day. 
May S; the rose won by 294,816 votes over 
golden rod's 206,402. 

As has been stated, five years after the 
World passed under the management of Joseph 
Pulitzer, I became its managing editor and 
"held down the job" for two years and eight 
months a record as yet unbroken in that 
office. I am told. During that period Col. 
George Harvey, who succeeded me and ought 
to know, assures me the high-water mark of 
2-cent circulation was scored. Naturally, the 
output at the present price is immeasurably 
greater. 

My World experience was. in many respects. 
the most remarkable of my life. I had served 
under two other journalistic chiefs of the 
period whose methods were so different from 
those of Mr. Pulitzer that 1 was amazed at 
the fertility of this newcomer's imagination 
and the keennes-- of bis news sense. White- 
law Reid. for example, always decided ques- 
tions of policy by precedent; he reasoned out 
a problem with extreme care. James Gordon 
Bennett. Jr.. on the other hand, decided in- 
tuitively. He lacked the inventive mind of 
Pulitzer, but 1 have always regarded his news 
sense as something beyond rivalry. He had 
opened Africa to civilization starting with 
the Livingstone expedition and ending wit 



1 28 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Stanley's Congo exploration. These exploits 
were newsmakers of high quality! It' a new 
project were proposed to Mr. Bennett, he de- 
cided instantly: the man would start on his 
quest that night or never. His policy ap- 
peared to be spontaneously intuitive; hut don't 
forgel "L'Amerique" incident! 

Especially do 1 recall the occasion on which 
Senator Blaine rose in the Chamber and at- 
tacked Haves. The Herald had been in- 
dulging in caustic remarks about the President; 
hut Mr. Bennett cabled from Nice: "Stand 
by the President, as against Blaine." 1 could 
cite numerous instances to prove the spon- 
taneity of the "Commodore's" decisions. 

Mi'. Pulitzer had the newspapers read to 
him. even before his eyesight failed; he said 
he could think more rapidly while listening. 
He poured forth a stream of suggestions, with- 
out interrupting his reading secretary. An- 
other scribe took down his ideas. Often 
these directions had not the remotest relation 
to what he had heard proving that his mind 
was capable of working along two or more 
lines simultaneously. 

In the fall of lSSi). I passed three weeks 
with him at Wiesbaden and on one of our 
walks he saw upon the front of a building in 
that Spa the caryatides, copies of which adorn 
the front of the World Building. He had a 
remarkably clever man for secretary, Claude 
Ponsonby, a nephew of the private secretary 
to Queen Victoria. At times Mr. Pulitzer, 
believing himself a sufferer from insomnia. 
became hypochondriacal and imagined he did 
not sleep. One afternoon Ponsonby and 1 
walked him ten miles through the vineyards 
towards Schloss Johannisberg, having a car- 
riage to follow, and when Mr. Pulitzer was 
seated in the vehicle to return to Wiesbaden, 
he slept soundly from sheer exhaustion. Dur- 
ing that stay at the German Spa, the chief 
planned a score of political crusades that were 
carried out during the following six months. 

He looked far ahead: unlike Mr. Bennett, 
he could wait! Mr. Bennett knows no word 
but "Now!" Bennett has wonderful capacity 
for imparting enthusiasm to an employee when 
he despatches him on a difficult or hazardous 
mission; Pulitzer never attempted anything 
of the sort. He always strove to improve upon 



suggestions made to him, but never exclaimed, 
"Excellent! Jump for it!" Success with 
Bennett justified any expenditure. Liberal as 
was Pulitzer, he kept strict watch of the week- 
Iv totals. That was natural he hadn't in- 
herited his fortune. 

To the men in his employ, Mr. Pulitzer 
was always considerate. He rarely praised; 




JOSEPH PULITZER 

but censure never was imposed until he had 
heard an explanation. In this respect he 
differed from Mr. Bennett. He knew. In- 
experience, that circumstances more often 
affected an executive editor's judgment than 
that of men placed in posts of responsibility 
in other professions. Frequently an editor 
has to decide in a minute of time whether or 
not to print a piece of news that is apparently 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



129 



dangerous. Nothing l>ut intuition can guide 
him in such a crisis. 

One of the most impetuous workers 1 ever 
met, Mr. Pulitzer was in constant fear of 
over-zeal. '"Activity and accuracy" were two 
words most frequently upon bis lips; and yet, 
he seemed to dread men who were too active. 
This is paradoxical. When the moment came 
for decision regarding a feature article. Mr. 
Pulitzer's judgment was infallible. I never 
knew him to make a mistake. At his com- 
mand, I set in motion the machinery to expose 
the mysterious disappearance of the millions 
of A. T. Stewart and his widow. Several of the 
most careful and experienced newspapermen 
in this country worked for months on that 
task. The first article, two pages in length, 
entitled "The Fall of the House of Stewart," 
was written by John K. Mumford and is a 
classic. It does not resemble Poe's "Fall of 
the House of Usher" or Balzac's "Decline 
and Fall of Cesar Birotteau," but is equal in 
literary merit to the former masterpiece. All 
the information gathered was sifted and 
collated by John P. Foley, former editor of 
the National Republican when it was Presi- 
dent Grant's organ, of whom 1 have spoken 
in my first meeting with Gen. Grant. 

A suit for libel was brought under an old 
law, but, like a recent Brooklyn case, was 
withdrawn. It was a great disappointment 
that the case was not tried, because a multi- 
tude of facts could have been brought out in 



court that never have or can appear in print. 
The utter wreck of the vast Stewart fortune 
was one of the sublime tragedies of the end 
of the last century. 

A few summers ago I met Joseph Pulitzer 
on the porch of the Louisburg Hotel at Bar 
Harbor. He drove up while 1 was sitting 
there, evidently to make a call upon a guest 
of the house. When he emerged he took a 
chair and we talked for an hour about past 
events. I learned many things concerning 
certain gentlemen with whom I had been 
associated when in Mr. Pulitzer's employ 
that would have been valuable knowledge to 
me had I possessed it at the right time. 

The death of Joseph Pulitzer in October. 
1911, was little short of a calamity to journal- 
ism. He had been ailing for more than 
twenty years, had completely lost his eyesight, 
was in an extremely nervous condition and 
slept irregularly, but his gigantic physical 
frame gave little indication of the general 
distress under which he suffered. Loss of 
evesighl had strengthened his keenness of 
memory and sharpened his marvelous powers 
of cross-examination: he would have been one 
of the remarkable jury lawyers of this country 
had he gone to the bar. Great as were his 
afflictions, hi' bore them philosophically: physi- 
cal troubles did not warp his gentle nature. 
To his three sons ultimately will fall the great 
property he has created. 



130 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER XVI 



SOME CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY 




^CONTROVERSY that threat- 
ened to become serious oc- 
curred between t he Carnegies 
and their employees in 18S1 
and I was sent to Pittsburgh. 
My first visit was to Carnegie 
Brothers. There I first met 
Andrew Carnegie, who was very cordial 1 nit 
insisted that his brother Henry, since deceased, 
could present the situation more clearly. He 
personally conducted me to another room, 
where a long interview followed. I next met 
Andrew Carnegie, in the Summer of 1884, at 
the Mountain House. Cresson. He came to 
me, remembering my Pittsburgh visit, and ex- 
pressed the gratitude of the firm for the man- 
ner in 
avert e< 
ing in , 
me to 
mothei 
vanced 
Scotch 



which a threatened strike had been 
by the Herald's article. He was liv- 
cottage upon the grounds and invited 
accompany 



Him there to meet his 
saw a clear-eyed lady, far ad- 
in years, who spoke with a broad 
accent. The meeting was recalled 
twelve years later, when President-elect Mc- 
Kinley. in Canton, walked with me from his 
home to that of his mother, that 1 might hear 
from her lips an account of his boyhood. 

The whole country was astonished, at a 
much later date, to learn that Andrew Car- 
negie's annual income from his steel proper- 
ties was $35,000,000! He suddenly loomed 
up as one of the very rich men of this country 

ultimately worth half a billion — and accom- 
panied the announcement with a declaration 
that he intended to distribute his money dur- 
ing lifetime, in order that he be not worth a 
dollar at his death! By this pronunciamento, 
Mr. Carnegie established a new philosophy of 
human existence. He has kept his word. 
however, and during the second half of a 
strenuous life, he lias been as busy giving 
away his money as he was during the first 
half in accumulating it. He has set a new- 



task for the wealthy man, and like Peter 
Cooper, Mr. Rockefeller, Baron Hirseh and 
('ceil Rhodes, he practices the doctrine he 
preaches. He calls it a criminal act to die 
wealthy! Such an opinion is so radical that 
curiosity is natural regarding the manner of 
man who voices it. 

Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland. 
November, 1837. but was brought to this 
country by his parents at eleven years of 
age. He began work as a weaver's assistant 
in a cotton factory. He was one of the earliest 
telegraph messenger boys: but. unlike most 
of his successors, he delivered with remarkable 
promptitude the telegrams that arrived at the 
Pittsburgh office of the Ohio Telegraph Com- 
pany. He lost no time in learning telegraphy, 
entered the service of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road and became Superintendent of the Pitts- 
burg Division of its telegraphic service. Then 
it was he met T. T. Woodruff, "a farmer- 
looking man." who had a model of a sleeping- 
car which he had been trying in vain to 
induce railroad managers to adopt. Carnegie 
tells the story of this initial speculation in his 
admirable volume. 'Triumphant Democ- 
racy." As a reward for laying the Woodruff 
plans before Thomas A. Scott. President of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad, he was allotted a 
small block of the sleeping-car stock: but 
when a first instalment was to be paid thereon. 
( arnegie says he hadn't the $217.50 demanded. 
He was receiving $50 per month. He went 
to a bank ami borrowed the money on a note. 
The great Ironmaster has often declared that 
the proudest moment of his life was that in 
which he made his first note and got it cashed. 
Dividends supplied money for the subsequent 
payments. When petroleum was discovered 
on Oil Creek, Carnegie went to the locality 
and made several fortunate investments. He 
disposed of his sleeping-car stock and invested 
in oil lands. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



131 



When the Civil War hurst upon the coun- 
try, Andrew Carnegie rendered valuable serv- 
ice to the Federal Government as Superin- 
tendent of Military Railroads and Telegraph 
Lines in the East; but as soon as the conflict 
closed, he began the building of his first iron 
furnace. When intelligence of the invention 
of the Bessemer process for making steel 
reached this country, Carnegie hurried to 
Europe and secured the American patents. 
While other large iron manufacturers were 
deliberating, he acted. All old plant was dis- 
carded and the new machinery installed. 
From that hour (1868) the Carnegie iron 
and steel business has grown until it was 
merged (1901) with the United States Steel 
Corporation at nearly half a billion dollars. 
Mr. Carnegie took his pay in bonds and re- 
tired from business. 

His career as a philanthropist had begun 
years before. As a patron of music, he had 
buill the Carnegie Institute in New York— 
sufficiently endowed to be self-supporting. 
As a patron of letters, he had given a fund of 
$10,000 to the Authors Club and quarters in 
the Institute in perpetuity. For the develop- 
ment of scientific research, he gave $10,000,- 
000 to the Carnegie Institute ofPittsburgh ; a 
similar sum to the Carnegie Institute of Wash- 
ington City, and a like amount to Scotch 
Universities. lie started a benevolent fund 
for employees of the Carnegie Steel Company 
by a subscription of $.5,000,000. Mr. Carne- 
gie's total benefactions exceed $100,000,000. 
including $40,000,000 for about 1,500 muni- 
cipal library buildings. One of his latest acts 
has been the creation of a ten-million dollar 
fund to pension aged college professors. 

Mr. Carnegie thus explains his views re- 
garding the duty of rich men to make sure 
that their money is properly used by disposing 
of it while they are alive. In "The Cospel 
of Wealth." he says: "The millionaire is only 
a trustee for the poor, entrusted for a season 
with a large part of the increased wealth of the 
community but administering it for that com- 
numity far better than it could or would have 
done for itself. The hest minds will thus have 
reached a stage in the development of the lace 
in which it is clearly seen that I here is no 
mode of disposing of surplus wealth creditable 



to thoughtful and earnest men into whose 
hands it flows, save by using it year by year 
for the general good. This day already 
dawns. Men may die without incurring the 
pitv of their fellows, still sharers in greal busi- 
ness enterprises from which their capital can- 
no! lie or has not been withdrawn, and which 
is left chiefly at death for public uses, yet the 
day is not far distant when the man who dies 
leaving behind him millions of available 
wealth, which was free for him to administer 
during life, will pass away 'unwept, unhonor- 
ed. and unsung,' no matter to what use he 
leaves the dross that he cannot lake with him. 
Of such as these the public verdict will he: 
'The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced!" 

Unlike some very rich men who made for- 
tunes by falsehood and deceit and at their 
deaths strove to buy Paradise and the for- 
giveness of their fellow-men by bequests to 
churches, Carnegie, who made his millions in 
legitimate trade, strives to give them back to 
science and education for the betterment of 
other people, instead of trying to purchase an 
exclusive heavenly ticket for himself. His 
name never has been found upon the direc- 
tories of the criminally managed life insur- 
ance companies, over-capitalized banks or 
other modern corporations promoted for the 
deception of the public. 

The rise of the Carnegie Steel Company 
from small beginnings and fostered by the 
protective tariff, is a living history of Ameri- 
can industrial development. Mill after mill 
was built, interest after interest was added. 
until Carnegie became the directing genius of 
the mightiest industry of the Western Conti- 
nent. Among his business associates, he 
created a score of millionaires. Before his 
company was merged with the great United 
States Steel Corporation. Carnegie gave em- 
ployment to 15,000 men, who received $1,250,- 
000 in wages every month. 

Although Mr. Carnegie's opportunities for 
early education were meagre, he has schooled 
himself in that greatest of universities, the 
world. He has been a patient student: he is 
a constant reader of books and a keen ob- 
server of men. As an after-dinner speaker. 
he excels: and his lectures at various colleges 
mark him as a competent instructor. He has 



132 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



published several delightful books in addition 
to those already mentioned, namely: "An 
American Four-in-Hand in Great Britain." 
"Round the World.'" and "The Empire of 
Business." College honors have been show- 
ered upon him; he was chosen Lord Rector 
of St. Andrew's University, Scotland, in 1903. 

Mr. Carnegie makes his permanent resi- 
dence in Xew York, but he owns Skibo Cas- 
tle, Scotland, and makes a visit thereto every 
Slimmer, to enjoy the shooting and fishing on 
his preserves. lie is an American, heart and 
sonl. although he glories in the fact that he 
was born in Dumfermline, the (own in which 
Robert Bruce was buried. 

Charles M. Schwab, although 50 years old, 
is. without doubt, the most interesting figure 
among the new millionaires. Of the thousand 
millionaires made by oil and steel, Schwab is 
the most human. His instincts are natural. 
He is neither treacherous to opponents nor 
false to friends. His love for I he members of 
his family is a Hue trait. He was born among 
the Alleghenies and at the age of five was 
taken by his parents to the hamlet of Loretto, 
a desolate hermitage, about five miles back of 
Cresson Springs — where the Pennsylvania s 
fast train stopped when that company owned 
the Mountain House. It was the seat of a 
school, founded in the eighteenth century by 
Prince Galitzen, who left the splendors of the 
Russian court to hide himself amid the fast- 
nesses of the Alleghenies. Galitzen's log hut 
was standing when I visited Loretto. My 
hist recollection of meeting Mr. Schwab was 
at a Republican State Convention in Harris- 
burs in the nineties, when he was a delegate 
from Homestead; but he insists that he re- 
members my visit to Loretto and drove the 
carriage in which I saw the place. That was 
ten years before the meeting at Harrisburg. 

Loretto is a shrine toward which all Chris- 
tian hearts, no matter what their creeds, must 
turn with affection. The place is almost as 
revered as is the Canadian shrine of St. Ann 
de Beaupre, near Quebec and (he Falls of 
Montmorency and within sight of the turgid 
St. Lawrence. But it is a very different kind 
of a sanctuary. If miracles ever have been 
worked at Loretto. Mr. Schwab is chiefesl of 
them! 



The story of Prince Galitzen is that of a 
penance, and it gives luster to the "Endless 
Hills," said to be the meaning of the Indian 
name for this part of the Appalachian range. 
The place is hallowed by his bones that rest 
inside a marble tomb, surmounted by a tall 
white cross. Religion hadn't formed any part 
of Prince Galitzen's early education. His 
father was an enthusiast in the school of Gallic 
infidelity; a personal friend of Voltaire and 
Diderot, and special care was taken that no 
minister of the Christian faith ever entered 
the study room of the young man. He was 
on the sure highway to riches, earthly happi- 
ness and glory. But one day. like Hercules. 
as Xenophon described him. he stood par- 
leying with Virtue and Vice! As did the fabled 
demi-god, this prince chose the path that Vir- 
tue pointed out. He declared openly tor the 
Faith, at 17. and joined the Church of Rome. 
With his religious convictions, his mother, the 
Princess Amelia, secretly sympathized. She 
covertly gave him a copy of "The Confession 
of St. Augustine." —the same precious volume 
that may be seen as a holy relic at Loretto. 
After enduring w hat amounted to persecution, 
Galitzen made his escape to the young Re- 
public on this side of the sea. As a humble 
novice, he entered the Sulpician Seminary al 
Baltimore. He cast aside, for ever, the glori- 
fication of man and put on the livery of the 
Holy Faith! During many long missionary 
excursions, he traveled for days through the 
forests and slept under the stars. He assumed 
the name of "Rev. Mr. Smith." He never 
allowed anybody to make him a "doctor of 
divinity." In that respect, he resembled 
Henry Ward Beecher. In such name and 
guise, he traveled alone to Loretto and in that 
desolate place began his work. The locality 
was without a name until he gave it one. It 
was a vast wilderness; there wasn't any trunk- 
line of railroad sending its trains thundering 
over those hills every hour of the day and 
the night! There was a silence like the 
awful stillness of the desert that Pliny de- 
scribes. But. it was a place for meditation. 
prayer and repentance. If, as modern meta- 
physicians claim, there is vast power in Si- 
lence, Galitzen found it atop the Alleghenies! 

Slowly, followers began to gather about 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



133 



him. Some came in ( lonestoga wagons. Others 
stopped en route to the valley of the Ohio, hut 
remained, won by the magic charm of this 
strange man. lie had mastered the English 
language, and spoke German and French. 
Through the influence of Henry Clay, Galit- 
zen obtained a small share of his patrimony, 
most of which had been absorbed by his rela- 
tives. A warm friendship existed between 
the Whig statesman and this servant of God. 
Their correspondence exists in the Clay 
archives. Mr. John Fenlon, of Ebensburg, 
lias asserted that he read many of ('lav's let- 
ters to Galitzen. When the priest's father 
died, the prince's mother earnestly urged him 
to return to his native land. 

Galitzen rode to Baltimore, consulted the 
bishop (Carroll) ami after many prayerful 
days, in "retreat." decided to return to 
Loretto. 

For forty-one years, he toiled without ces- 
sation and often without means. Many times 
did the little colony know privation and 
want. In small sums, during that time, this 
prince obtained from his estates $140,000. 
every cent of which was expended in sustain- 
ing the struggling enterprise. He was often 
the victim of deception. On one occasion, 
he relieved an apparent case of great distress. 
only to learn subsequently that the money so 
generously bestowed had been squandered in 
a carouse at a tavern in a near-by village. 
Galitzen said : 

"I gave it not to that poor mortal; 1 gave 
it to God!" 

Galitzen's disinterested nobleness of char- 
acter was shown in the severe winter during 
which he died. Snow fell to an unusual depth 
and fire-wood became scarce. The priest sent 
word to his neighbors that (hey should keep 
their fires going from his scanty stock. He 
remained in lied, or wrapped in blankets. — to 
do without fire for the benefit of others. This 
equals the beautiful tale about Sir Philip Sid- 
ney, who gave his last drink of water to a 
soldier dying al his side upon the field of 
battle. There is a noblesse oblige in (he well- 
born man or woman! 

Good brother, good fellow, Charley Schwab, 
lie lias the finest home in Manhattan, but he 
hasn't forgotten the old nest at Loretto. 



The history of the Astor family, since the 
arrival of its firs! member in 17N.'5, compre- 
hends the growth of this city. The half billion 
of money now in possession of the descendants 
of the original John Jacob Astor has been 
accumulated by the appreciation of real 
estate; nol one dollar of it has been garnered 
in speculative enterprises. Col. John Jacob 
Astor, son of William Astor and great-grand- 
son of John Jacob Astor, the founder of the 
family in America, was born at " Ferncliff." 
Rhinebeck, \. Y., July. 1864; was educated 
at St. Paul's School. Concord. X. II.. and 
graduated al Harvard University. Unlike the 
sons of many rich men, Col. Astor has de- 
voted his mind seriously to mechanical in- 
ventions, somewhat to authorship and dur- 
ing the Spanish War raised and equipped a 
battery which he accompanied to the front. 
Although he is an enthusiastic yachtsman, 
he does not permit the love of sport to inter- 
fere with the management of the vast estate 
committed to his care by inheritance. He 
has enriched the metropolis with several of its 
handsomest hotel structures. Thai part of 
the Waldorf-Astoria, known as the "Astoria." 
he completed in IS!)?; the Hotel St. Regis, 
under Mr. Hahn's management, was opened 
in 1905 and the Hotel Knickerbocker in 1906. 
Always a diligent student of science and one 
of the first champions of the automobile, as 
well as an early believer in the feasibility of 
aerial navigation, he published in 1894 an 
exceedingly scholarly volume entitled "A 
Journey in Other Worlds." Governor Mor- 
ton appointed him a member of his staff with 
the title of [nspector-General ; but he was 
unwilling to nominally hold any such title as 
Colonel, to which his staff appointment entitled 
him. and fully equipped the battery of artillery 
for use against the Spaniards in Cuba. He 
was present at the baffles before Santiago dr 
Cuba and was detailed by Major-General 
Shafter to deliver the official terms of capitula- 
tion to the Secretary of War! He was mus- 
tered out of the Volunteer service November 
1. 1898, with the rank of Lieut .-Colonel 
I . S. \ olunteers. 

Col. Astor received a firsl prize al flic 
World's Columbian Exposition for the in- 
vention of a pneumatic machine to remove 



134 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




Col. .JOHN JACOB ASTOR 



worn-out material from roads before the laying 
of new stones. lie is also the inventor of a 
practical turbine engine and other mechanical 
devices. 

The utilization of vast peat deposits in the 
temperate zones has long presented a baffling 
problem. Here is a valuable fuel, if the water 
could be economically extracted — a thing 
heretofore impossible! Col. Astor has in- 
vented and presented to the public a solution 
of this difficulty. He has devised what he 
calls a "vibratory disintegrator," which utilizes 
the expansive force of the large quantities of 
gases hidden in the peat to disrupt the cakes 
of fuel, so they may be uniformly dried. This 
disrupting result is attained by a gas engine, 
driven by the gas derived from the peat! 
Its simplicity equals its effectiveness. The 



same may be said of a chair for use on steamers 
that Col. Astor has invented. He utilizes 
the principle of suction upon the feet of the 
chair, produced by pressing a small handle at 
its hack. This will do away with the necessity 
of bolting to the floor chairs on ocean steamers 
and will greatly add to the comforts of sea 
voyages. 

He is a patron of the hue arts, a lover of 
arboriculture and his country home at "Fern- 
cliff" contains some of the finest trees upon 
this continent ; while there are several larger 
places on the Hudson. Col. Astor's Ethine- 
cliff estate is far and away the most beauti- 
ful in the United States. Mr. Astor was 
one of the first steam yacht owners and 
for years his "Nourmahal" was one of the 
most expensively equipped steamers belong- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



1 35 



ing to the X. \. \ acht Club. His new boat, 
"Noma," is the latest word in steam yacht 
building. 

The Newport home of the family, "Beech- 
wood," is on Bellevue Avenue, ;in<l overlooks 
the cliffs. It has been the country seat of the 
family for three generations, and although no1 
showy, like some of the more modern villas, 
is commodious and surrounded by one of the 
finest law us in that beautiful Summer city. ( )f 
late years. Col. Astor has made all his trips 
between the metropolis and Newport on the 
"Noma." The Astor town home is not ex- 
celled by any in this city. It oceupies a corner 
on upper Fifth Avenue, facing Central Park, 
and is one of the few establishments on that 
thoroughfare having a driveway. It contains 
the largest ballroom of any private house in 
New York and its art nailery has many splen- 
did specimens of the modern schools. 
Throughout, the building is a treasure-house 
of art.' 

Col. Astor is a director of more financial 
institutions and railway corporations than any 
other American. A list of them is too long to 
enumerate. The part he has taken in the 
development of the Niagara Falls Power 
Company is especially worthy of mention— 
he and II. C. Frick having been the strongest 
supporters of Mr. Tesla in that gigantic 
enterprise that has been brought to such 
triumphant success. At Harvard, Mr. Astor 
was a member of the Delta Phi fraternity. A 
list of the social organizations to which he be- 
longs would include every one of importance 
in this city, London and Paris. Perhaps the 
one local club that gives him greatest pride in 
its membership is tin- Authors, the semi- 
monthly meetings of which he frequently 
attends. 

Thomas Collier Piatt was unlike any other 
politician bearing the Republican brand who 
attained supreme power in the Empire Slate. 
His methods wore those of Samuel J. Tilden, 
but in some respects he was cleverer than the 
"Sage of Greystone." Although he made no 
display of the fact, Mr. Plait was a highly 
educated man, fond of books and at times 
even thought himself a poet. He was born 
at Owego, New York, 1833, prepared for 
college at the academy of that town and 



entered Yale, but was compelled to leave lie- 
cause of ill health, lie returned to his native 
town and engaged in mercantile life; was one 
of the first lo become interested in lumbering in 
Michigan. After serving three years as clerk 
of Tioga County, he was elected to Congress in 
187:5, serving three terms. I first met him 
in 1876. lie did not attract attention in de- 
bate, but he was an efficient worker on com- 
mittees and in January, 1881, was sent 10 the 
United States Senate by the New York Legis- 
lature. The differences that arose between 
Senators Conklin and Piatt and President 
Garfield in May of 1SS1, leading to the resigna- 
tion of the two Senators, have been dealt with 
elsewhere. When the Legislature refused to 
send the two Senators hack to Washington, the 
opinion was that Mr. Piatt's political career 
had ended. He resumed his position as 
President of the United States Express Com- 
pany, and became President of the Hoard of 
Quarantine Commissioners. Above all, he 
began the task of regaining the Republican 
leadership of the state. When all his plans 
were made, he secured a reelection to the 
United States Senate in IS!)?, and retained the 
place for twelve years. He died full of years 
in March. 1!>1<). ' 

Senator Piatt made his actual reent ranee 
to the political arena at the St. Louis Conven- 
tion of 1896, where he forced upon an unwill- 
ing assemblage a plank of the platform com- 
mitting the party to the gold standard of money. 
McKinley. the candidate of the party chair- 
man. Mr. Ilanna, had been wobbly on the 
silver question ami the Republicans of the West 
and Middle West were, in many cases, out- 
spoken in advocacy of bi-metalism. The gold 
plank elected McKinley! Mr. Plaft was at 
that time in complete control of his party in 
the Empire State and his return to the Senate 
only awaited a vacancy. A large volume could 
lie written about his last twelve years in the 
I pper House of Congress. In his day he 
had been an apothecary, a mill owner, presi- 
dent of a railroad, of a mining company and of 
an express company and a Representative in 
Congress; hut after March t, 1897, lie became 
a veritable Warwick. Before McKinley's 
nomination, Piatt had been opposed to him, 
but after the election of the Ohio man. and 



136 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



their simultaneous induction into office, the 
President sent for the New Yorker and re- 
gained his friendship to such an extent that 
\\ hen they separated Piatt had tears in his eves 
and said to the first friend lie met: "McKin- 
ley is a real human creature, he grasped my 
hand warmly as he exclaimed: 'Let us forget 
everything, Mr. Piatt; 1 need your friendship 
and you need mine." ' McKinley possessed 
hypnotic powers or lie could not so easilj 
have regained a friendship that had been 
utterly lost. 

At Philadelphia, in ]!)()(). Piatt and Quay 
decreed the nomination of Theodore Roose- 
velt tor Vice-President. McKinley didn't 
want Roosevelt, preferring Elihu Root, then 
Secretary of War, with Cornelius X. Bliss as 
second choice. Chairman Ilanna was reso- 
lutely opposed to Roosevelt: but Senator Piatt 
wanted to rid himself of Roosevelt as Governor 
of New York and the artifice by which he 
forced his candidate upon the unwilling Ilanna 
is one of the neatest in American history. 
Hardly had the convention come to order, 
when a resolution (written by Piatt) was pre- 
sented by Quay, calling for a reduction in the 
number of delegates from Southern states in all 
future Republican national conventions. The 
idea was not a new one and the better elements 
of the party favored it. because Southern dele- 
gates were notoriously purchasable. Ilanna 
saw that it was a direct thrust at him and as 
soon as the resolution was read, the Ilanna 
people shouted for an adjournment until the 
following dav and got it. I was one of sev- 
era] correspondents who hurried to ask Senator 
Piatt what the resolution meant. "It means 
that Papa Ilanna will throw up the sponge 
to-night and come out for Roosevelt as Mc- 
Kinley 's running mate. You don't suppose 
that old rooster wants his organization in 
I he South cut to pieces, do you ? Quay and I 
know what we are about. We have the votes 
to pass that resolution, for we have taken a 
poll of the delegates." Ilanna withdrew his 
opposition to the Governor of New York. Al- 
though Mr. Piatt was suffering from a broken 
rib. he walked into Roosevelt's room that night 
about ten o'clock and in the presence of a score 
of alert newspaper men. myself among them. 
offered the nomination to Roosevelt. Piatt 



gave to Quay credit for having suggested that 
resolution. lb- was a great admirer of the 
Pennsylvania!) and once said: "I wish I had 
been Quay's office boy for six months!" 

The manner in which Mr. Piatt relegated to 
obscurity and totally eliminated all the men 
who had gloated over his downfall in 1SS1 
marked him as a political tactician of the 
shrewdest kind. He had the memory of an 
elephant and the adroitness of a Machiavelli. 
Piatt had been a strict Presbyterian all his life, 
but was very fond of Robert [ngersoll and 
ridiculed Warner Miller most sarcastically 
for withdrawing the agnostic from the stump 
during Miller's campaign for the Governor- 
ship. The Senator never tired of telling an 
incident that occurred under his notice. A 
prominent theologian, being introduced to 
[ngersoll, asked: "Colonel, without irrevei- 
ence, what would you do if you were God 
Almighty.'" [ngersoll instantly replied, "I'd 
make health contagious instead of disease." 

Mi-. Piatt could have nominated himself 
Governor in tS!)(i. but his eyes were focussed 
on the Senatorship which he expected to land 
in the following January. I delight to write 
of Thomas C. Piatt as a wit. a satirist, a 
stoic, an optimist and a sincere believer in 
friendship, although many times disappointed 
therein. Taken all in all. he was one of the 
most interesting men who filled a large place 
in public life that I have ever known, and 
Louis Lang's life of him is very readable. 

On visits to the White House during Presi- 
dent Cleveland's second term, I met a slender. 
light-haired, alert young man attached to the 
office of the Secretary of the President as a 
stenographer. He was always courteous, ex- 
ceptionally rapid in his work and withal ex- 
tremely modest. This was in the winter of 1 895 
and '!)(>, when George Bruce Cortelyou was 
about '.VI years of age. He had had extensive 
experience as stenographer in New York prior 
to that time, reporting in the courts and be- 
fore referees. He had been principal of pre- 
paratory schools in New York from 1885 to '89 
and had served as private secretary to various 
officials, including the Post Office Inspector 
of New York, Surveyor of the Port of New 
York and the Fourth Assistant Postmaster 
General at Washington. From this last posi- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



i:;? 



tion he was drafted to the "\\" 1 1 i 1 1' House to 
become stenographer to the President, Novem- 
ber, 1SJ).5. There 1 first encountered him. 
Mr. Cortelyou, who lias left an indelible 
mark upon the political history of this country 
as organizer of the Department of Commerce 
and Labor, was born in this city, July, 1862. 




GEORGE B. CORTELYOU 

His preparatory studies were at the Hempstead 
Institute and the State Normal School. West- 
Held. Mass. He then received instruction in 
law at Georgetown University and finished at 
the Columbian (now George Washington) 
I Diversity. Therefore, we find him well 
equipped for the rapid and brilliant rise that 
followed the advent of President McKinlev. 
A Hartford editor, Addison Porter, was the first 
secretary to McKinlev and wisely chose the 
assistant secretary who hail served so credita- 
bly under President Cleveland. This event 
occurred in July. 1898, prior to which time 
Mr. Cortelyou had been acting as executive 
clerk to the President. In the spring of 1 !><)<). 
the death of President McKinlev \s secretary, 
Mr. Porter, was followed by the advancement 
of Mr. Cortelyou to the place. On most of 
the President's tours, the amiable assistant 
secretary had accompanied him. 1 especially 



recall ;i fortnight at the Hotel Chainplain, 
where the President and the newspaper cor- 
respondents fraternized. Dining the Mckin- 
ley administrations for Mr. Cortelyou was 
reappointed this faithful service continued. 
and when Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to 
the Presidency, one of his first acts was to 
reappoint tin' acting secretary. 

When necessity for the creation of a new 
department, devoted to the interests of the 
laboring classes as well as of their employers. 
was recognized by Congress. President Roose- 
velt chose Mr. Cortelyou as the first Secretary 
to create and organize it a task involving 
infinite details. The choice did credit to the 
President's judgment of his Secretary's origi- 
nating capacity. To create an entirely new 
executive branch of a national government 
is not an easy task: hut the success of Mr. 
Cortelyou was unequivocal. In a few months 
he had its various bureaus and special agents 
actively at work. The publication of a daily 
consular report was projected and soon put 
into effective operation. 

When the campaign for President Roose- 
velt's election in 1904 approached. Secretary 
Cortelyou was chosen Chairman of the Re- 
publican National Committee and conducted 
the campaign against Judge Alton B. Parker 
with complete success. As in previous under- 
takings. Mr. Cortelyou displayed a remark- 
able grasp of details. As an evidence of ap- 
preciation and further confidence, President 
Roosevelt appointed Mr. Cortelyou Post- 
master-General in March, 1905, a position he 
tilled creditably for two years. During that 
time a thorough investigation was made of 
the department; many irregularities were erad- 
icated and improvements in the service intro- 
duced. Especially was the transportation of 
foreign mails and the domestic special delivery 
system accelerated. As a final recognition of 
splendid public service. Mr. Cortelyou was 
appointed Secretary of the Treasury, March 
4. 1907, continuing in office during the re- 
mainder of the Roosevelt term. This post 
is one of such transcendant responsibility that 
no word from me is needed to emphasize the 
heighl of George 15. Cortelyou's rise. His 
administration was fair to all interests. On 
one occasion, by prompt action, he averted a 



138 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



panic by going to the rescue of the banks. 
In 1909 lie was elected President of the Con- 
solidated Gas Company, of New York, the 
largest corporation of its kind in the world, 
and despite a decrease of 20 per cent, in price, 
he so conducted the company's affairs as to 
show an increased revenue in l!)l(l of $4,724,- 
<S4!). To my mind, here is the best known 
example of the rise of a man in public life 
who did not owe the attainment of his am- 
bition to politics. 

Charles Adolph Schieren, born in Rhenish, 
Prussia, Germany, February. lN4'-2, was edu- 
cated at public schools of his native land until 

the age of fourteen, 
when he was brought 
to the United States. 
His father was a cigar- 
maker and dealer and 
the boy assisted his 
parents in the business 
in Brooklyn until 1804. 
\\ hen he became a clerk 
in the leather belting 
factory of Philip F. 
Pasquay in Manhattan. 
He established himself 
in the same business, 
with a small capital, 
in 1808, from w h i c h 
grew the firm of ( has. 
A. Schieren Company in Xew York, with 
branch houses in this country and Hamburg. 
Although the scene of Mr. Schieren's entire 
business career has been in Manhattan, in 
that locality familiarly known to the leather 
trade as "The Swamp," his residence has been 
in Brooklyn and with that borough his social 
and political interests are closely identified. 
In polities, a Republican, he was for three 
years president of the Brooklyn Young Re- 
publican Club. He introduced the election 
district system that caused the overthrow of 
the Democratic party in Brooklyn, and. in 
1893, brought aboul his own election to the 
Mayoralty. He turned his business over to 
other hands and devoted his entire time to the 
duties of his high office. His administration 
was characterized by conservative manage- 
ment of the city's affairs that gave to him a 
national reputation. Through his influence 




('HAS. A. .M'lIII.UKN 



and energetic advocacy, the legislature of 1895 
authorized the construction of the new Wil- 
liamsburg bridge. By the addition of five 
new parks during Mr. Schieren's term of 
office, the park area of the City of Brooklyn 
was doubled. Forest Park, the largest of 
these (570 acres), is noted for its natural beauty 
and tine view of the ocean and Long Island 
Sound: Dyker Meadow Park, 150 acres, em- 
braces several thousand feet ocean front; final 
plans were atlopted and riparian plans secured 
for the Shore Driveway, which, when com- 
pleted, will be one of the finest boulevards 
in the world. Mr. Schieren was one of the 
founders of the Brooklyn Museum and laid its 
corner-stone during his occupancy of the ad- 
ministration as Mayor. Governor Black 
named him Chairman of the State Commerce 
Commission; Governor Roosevelt appointed 
him a member of the Xew York Charter Re- 
vision Committee. His activities in charities 
are ceaseless. He is president of the Brooklyn 
Academy of Music, one of the finest structures 
in this country devoted to grand opera and 
art. Mr. Schieren is public-spirited and ever 
ready to support, by his means and influence, 
enterprises that make for the betterment of 
the community of which he has been an 
honored member for over half a century. 

Herbert II. Vreeland was born a poor man's 
son; his only heritage was character and brains. 
His father was the son of a minister, but he 
refused to take up the same calling; the 
grandson had to leave home early and hustle 
for himself. Mr. Vreeland was born in the 
village of (den, X. Y., 1S57. the youngest of 
several children. His father died when he 
was a boy and his mother removed to Jersey 
City. At the age of ten, he got a job with a 
Jersey City grocer. In 1875, he got employ- 
ment with the Long Island Railroad Com- 
pany, as a gravel shoveler. In a few months 
he was promoted to be inspector of ties, at a 
dollar a day. Next, he was a switch tender. 
When oil' duty, he assisted clerks at the Bush- 
wick station in making up their receipts. 
Often, after a. day's work, he would remain 
until midnight, without extra pay, compiling 
train receipts and expenses. He was made a 
brakeman on a train to Hempstead. He was 
then 20 years old. To a friend who bantered I 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



139 



him, young Vreeland retorted that he expected 
to become a conductor and fully intended to 
be a railroad president. One morning, a con- 
ductor of a regular train was summarily dis- 
charged and Vreeland was put in his place. 
He served satisfactorily for several months 
until an accident occurred for which he and 
the engineer were jointly responsible. lie ad- 
mitted his fault and was discharged. The 
superintendent reinstated him as a brakeman. 
When the Long Island load passed into the 
hands of Austin Corbin and associates, Vree- 
land was one of those who, as he puts it, was 




HERBERT H. VREELAND 

"permitted to get out as quickly as possible." 
He soon secured a position as conductor, 
afterwards General Manager on the New 
York and Northern railroad. A few months 
afterward, in 1893, he received a telegram 
from Win. C. Whitney, asking him to come 
to the office of the Metropolitan 'Fraction 
Company. He had made a success of the 
New York and Northern. He went and was 
informed that at a meeting of the stockholders 
he had Keen elected a director of the company 
and with unanimity chosen its president and 
general manager. This jump in eight years 
from a brakeman and conductor to the head 
of the greatest system of surface trolley rail- 



road in the world, with a salary that appeared 
to him fabulous, did not upsel Mi-. Vreeland, 
then aged 35. 

At that time the roads of the Whitney 
syndicate were a collection of separate lino, 
each under different management. The hard- 
est and best work done by Mr. Vreeland was 
the unification of all these lines into the Met- 
ropolitan System. Heads were lopped oil' in 
all directions and economies of the most radi- 
cal character introduced. A discovery he 
made was that the appointments of conductors 
and lnotorinen were chiefly made through 
political influence. The places were regarded 
as the patronage of certain Assemblymen and 
Aldermen; needless to say, this species of dicta- 
tion and "graft" was stopped. Peremptory 
orders were issued that no man could secure 
employment through political influence and 
that nobody should be discharged who was 
sober and competent. Mr. Vreeland taught 
every under-boss there was only one head- 
quarters ami that was at Broadway and 
Houston Street. The 4,000 employees ren- 
dered better service; there were no more 
strikes, because when the men had a grievance, 
they could always arbitrate with President 
Vreeland. He has been at the head of the 
Metropolitan Company ever since. 

Since Cuba has been freed from the Spanish 
yoke, traveling facilities on the island have 
improved in every way. A railway now ex- 
tends from Havana to Santiago, with branches 
connecting all important ports with the main 
line. This railway system has brought thou- 
sands of colonists from the United States and 
Europe. Prosperity exists in the larger cities 
and the smaller towns are awakening to the 
prospects of a splendid future. The late 
Walter 1). Munson was prompt to foresee the 
value of direct steamship connections with the 
large semi-tropical, continental and insular 
regions gathered about the great basin of the 
Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. 
Mexico and Cuba are the most prominent of 
these; proximity and reciprocal needs and 
products for their supply have made them a 
natural part of the commercial system of 
the United Stales. The Munson steamship 
line, with its Hue fleet of vessels sailing direct 
to Matanzas, Cardenas. Sagua la Grande, 



HO 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Cabarien, Neuvetas, Gibara, Banes, Antilla 
;iiid Baracao, is the only direct route to these 
ports. As stated, Walter I). Munson was the 
founder of this line giving communication with 
Central and Eastern Cuba. lie was a native 
of Connecticut. At the outbreak of the Civil 
War. he entered the Federal Army, and. due 
to faithful service in the Held through many 
campaigns, rose to the rank of Major. When 
peace returned. Mi'. Munson went to Havana. 
where he engaged for fifteen years in commer- 

* 

cial pursuits. Returning to his native land 
in 1882, he became a citizen of New York 
and established the steamship line thai hears 
his name. A hitherto neglected part of the 
large and fertile island of Cuba was opened 
to trade. The splendid resources of the in- 
terior were almost as undeveloped as those of 
German Easl Africa; railways were few and 
of short mileage; ports were isolated and the 
mountain range that traverses the middle of 
Cuba rendered difficult communication be- 
tween north and south coasts. In a short 
time, the steamers of the Munson line encircled 
the greal island, thus rendering all parts ac- 
cessible for travel and commerce. 

Few people who have not visited Cuba have 
a correct idea of its size; a general impression 
exists that it is about the length of Long Island, 
whereas it is more than 700 miles long a dis- 
tance equal to that between New York and 
Toledo! The extreme eastern province, 
known under the Spaniards as Santiago, is 
now called Oriente; the next province, to- 
ward the west, was Puerto Principe, hut is now 
Camaguey: then comes Santa Clara. Malan- 
zas. Havana and Pinar del Rio. The scenery 
in the Oriental region, only reached direct 
by the steamers of the Munson line, is very 
beautiful, with wild mountains and tropical 
forests. In the central part are extensive 
prairies; in the west archills and smiling val- 
leys everywhere the royal palm is the dom- 
inating tree! Here, within four days of New- 
York, are to he found the same splendid palms 
one sees in Algeria and Egypt! The valley 
of the Yumuri, near Malanzas. a circular 
basin crossed by a river that issues through a 
charming glen to the sea. is the most beautiful 
spot in Cuba. A peculiar feature of the island 
is the abundance of its caverns; there are 



scores of them, but Cotilla, near Havana; Bel- 
lamar. near Matanzas. and Monte Libano, near 
Guantanamo, are best known and most easily 
visited. Disappearing rivers are numerous. 
The Mon cascade, near Guantanamo, drops 
.'500 feet into a cavern and its waters later 
reappear from the earth. Geologically, Cuba 
is a treasure-house of mineral wealth, chiefly 
undeveloped. Its flora is tropical and of 




WALTER D. MUNSON (deceased) 

splendid richness. Tobacco is its staple. 
Sugar has been the dominant crop since the 
18th century. In its forests are forty different 
kinds of cabinet and building woods — its 
ebony and mahogany are the highest priced 
known. Snakes are few and not of poisonous 
character. The climate is most equable 
The Spanish occupation proved that dwellers 
in temperate zones can become acclimatized 
in Cuba: and. since American intervention. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



141 



yellow fever has been totally eradicated. Such 
is the tropical wonderland that W. 1). Munson 
opened to citizens of our country! 

Steamers of the Munson line not only are 
despatched from New York- which most in- 
terests me, for 1 have been visiting Cuba since 
1874 — but from Nova Scotia one line of boats 
goes to Havana and another from Mobile. 
Munson vessels transport a large share of 
freight and passengers between Canada and 
the United States, on the one side, and Cuba 
and Mexico, on the other. They are large 
carriers of sugar from Cuba to Boston. Phila- 
delphia and New York. Since the death of his 
father, Charles W. Munson has been president 
of the company; Frank C. Munson is treas- 
urer and Alfred II. Bromell, secretary. 




.l"Si:PH .1. LITTLE 

A prominent figure in metropolitan com- 
mercial life is Joseph J. Little, printer, pub- 
lisher, ex-Congressman and man of affairs. 
He was born at Bristol. England, 1S41 : came 
to the United States when five years old. was 
educated at the public schools and began life 
as a printer's apprentice at Morris, X. Y.. in 
1855. batei- he came to this city to work: 
he began as a compositor: but. when the Civil 
War broke out. he enlisted in the 37th New 
York National Guard and served in the Sum- 



mer campaigns of 1862, 1863 and 1K(!4. when 
he returned to this city and resumed work as 
foreman of a composing room. Mr. Little is 
fond of telling that his wages for the first year 
as an apprentice boy at Morris were $ v 2.). for 
the second year $35 and for the third year $45, 
payable quarterly. In the Spring of 1859, 
when young Little came to New York, he 
had about $5 in his pocket. Being under age, 
although a journeyman printer, he could not 
command more than two-thirds of a journey- 
man's wages. I have already spoken of his 
part in the war from which he returned a first 
lieutenant. He went into business in a small 
way in 1<S(I7. the firm's name being Little, 
Rennie & Co. When Mr. Rennie died, in 
INTO, the corporation became J. J. Little & 
Co.. and moved into a seven-story building 
on Astor Place, where it remained until 1!)()N, 
when it moved into its own eleven-story build- 
ing in Last ".24th Street. The business now 
carries between five and six hundred people 
on its pay roll. The capacity of the estab- 
lishment is such that the book binding de- 
partment can turn out 1.5. 000 cloth covered 
books and 35,000 paper covered books per daw 
Since the close of the Civil War. Mr. Little 
has served as Colonel of the Seventy-first 
Regiment Veteran Association and is past 
Commander of Lafayette Lost. G. A. R. 

Especially has he displayed interest as an 
officer and finally as president of the General 
Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the 
City of New York, an organization dating 
back to 1785 and sustaining a large free, cir- 
culating library, free schools for teaching 
mechanical and free-hand drawing, modeling, 
stenography and typewriting. This institu- 
tion has equipped thousands of students. 
Mr. Carnegie recently became a member and 
has helped its work to the extent of more than 
$500,000. Mr. Little is a member of the 
American Institute, of which he has also been 
president. His charities are many. He served 
for many years as a trustee of the New York 
Infant Asylum, one of the most praiseworthy 
institutions on this continent. He is a life 
member of the New York Geographical So- 
ciety. His work as a member of Congress 
was noteworthy, but he refused a second nomi- 
nation. He succeeded the late Roswell P. 
Flower, who in his turn had defeated William 



142 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



Waldorf Astor. in a normally Republican dis- 
trict. Mr. Little has always been a Democrat, 
but has rarely taken an active part in national 
politics. After leaving Congress he again, 
upon the urgent request of Mayor Strong, be- 
canie a member of the Hoard of Education 
of this city. As Chairman of the Committee 
on Buildings of that Board, he reorganized the 
building bureau of the Department of Educa- 
tion, placing at its head a young and capable 
architect. ( )ut of this important change arose 
vast improvements in school-house architecture, 
seen in many parts of this metropolis. Greater 
\e\\ York contains the handsomest, best 
arranged and best ventilated school-houses of 
any city in the world. Mr. Little finally be- 
came President of the Board of Education 
and only resigned after a second election as 
President on account of business and ill health. 

Joseph J. Little occupies a large niche in 
the Masonic hall of fame. lie joined Kane 
Lodge, 4.>4. in 1ST!), and has served as its 
Master several times, as well as Deputy Grand 
Master of his district. A distinguished honor 
came to Mr. Little, in 1896, when In- was ap- 
pointed by the then Prince of Wales, afterward 
King Edward VII, Grand Representative of 
the Grand Lodge of England near the Grand 
Lodge of Xew York. Mr. Little's standing in 
New York is shown by the many important 
civic and municipal committees for which 
he has been named. He was an active worker 
in the raising of funds for the Grant monu- 
ment on Riverside Drive, also assisted earnest- 
ly in relief work for sufferers by the Johnstown 
Hood. 

A very bright incident in Mr. Little's life 
was the return to his boyhood home. Morris, 
on the fiftieth anniversary of his apprentice- 
ship. September 5, 1905, when he gave a din- 
ner to the utmost capacity of the village hotel 
to all his old and new friends. Mr. Little is 
an officer of the Pearson Publishing Company 
I ha I issues " Pearson's Magazine." lie is a 
Trustee of the Excelsior Savings Bank and 
was a member of the Xew York's World Pair 
( Commission in 1893. 

Many a good man has been born in Xew 
Jersey and more than two hundred thousand 
active participators in the trades and professions 
of the metropolis dwell in Jersey, but come to 



the city daily. ( me of the most active men in the 
great human hive known as the Hudson Ter- 
minal, where the offices of the Erie Railroad 
Company are located, is John Hull Browning, 
financier, president of the Northern Xew 
Jersey Railroad. Mr. Browning comes of 
Rhode Island stock, his ancestors dating back 
to the davs of Roger Williams. On his 
mother's side, he counts among his forebears 
the Rev. Joseph Hull, one of the original 
settlers of Weymouth. Plymouth Colony, 1(1:;."). 
Both sides of his house had representatives 
in the Wars of the Revolution and of 1812. 




JnHN HULL BROWNING 



Young Browning was a Christmas gift to his 
parents in 1841. Soon after his birth his 
parents moved to Xew York City. The boy 
was sent to the College of the City of Xew 
York, was graduated and engaged in commer- 
cial enterprises with his father for some time. 
His father-in-law, Charles G. Sisson, president 
of the Xew Jersey Railroad Company, died in 
1874, and the representatives of the estate 
secured the election of Mr. Browning to the 
directorate of that corporation. He was soon 
elected president of the company and retained 
that position until it was consolidated with 
the Erie Railroad Company. 



THE HOOK 0/ NEW YORK 



143 



Mr. Browning's railroad connections have 
become very extensive. He is associated as 
a director with many Southern lines, in addi- 
tion to a score of banks, gas companies and 
other corporations. He lives in a beautiful 
home at Tenafly, and enjoys automobiling 
along the fine roads that line the crest of the 
Palisades. He has always been a Republican 
and for many years has been president of the 
Bergen County Republican League. Thrice 
lie lias been chosen a Presidential Elector, hut 
has never held a political office of any other 
kind. Although Mr. Browning never speaks 
of his acts of benevolence, people who know 
him. as does the writer, are aware that he is 
a constant giver to the support of hospitals 
and city missions. He is a life member of 
ten charitable societies. He is a manager of 
the Xew York Protestant Episcopal City 
Mission and vice-president of Christ Hospital, 
Jersey City. 

A firm that has figured prominently in the 
mercantile history of Xew York City, and one 
that has had a most remarkable career, is 
that of Holt & Company, of Xo. 95 Broad 
Street, of which Mr. Charles AY. McCutcheon 
is the head. 

The firm was founded in 1801 by Stephen 
Holt, of X T ew London, Conn., who came to 
this city in early life, attracted by the com- 
mercial possibilities here. 

In the early days of the Colony a charter 
had been granted bv the Crown, giving to the 
colonists the right to manufacture Hour for 
trade in the West Indies. This act was con- 
sidered of such importance that the embryo 
city adopted as a coat of arms a design in 
which the four wings of a windmill and two 
barrels of flour were the principal features. 
Naturally the business was soon one of the 
leading industries and it was the commercial 
prospects presented that led Stephen Holt to 
organize the linn of Holt & Company, and 
commence the business of handling Hour. 

In the 111 years of its existence I he firm has 
naturallv undergone many changes, but dur- 
ing that long period its integrity has never been 
impaired. It successfully weathered every 
commercial storm, and there were many en- 
countered, never asked financial aid and never 
owed a dollar beyond the time fixed by coin- 




CHAS. W. McCUTCHEON 

mercial usage. It is still engaged in the same 
line but has added corn goods for hot climates, 
and makes regular shipments to the West 
Indies. Of late years the trade has been 
largely increased and now includes many 
Central and South American ports. 

Mr. McCutcheon, who is now head of the 
firm, was born in Williamsburg. Brooklyn. 
January 2, 1845, the son of William Moore 
andEliza (St. John) McCutcheon. Thefamily 
is of Scotch-Irish ancestry ami was founded 
in America in the latter part of the eighteenth 
century. 

Mr. McCutcheon was educated at the Poly- 
technic Institute in Brooklyn, from which he 
graduated in ('lass of 1862. He at once 
entered upon a business career and in 1879 
became a partner in Holt & Company. His 
long experience and executive ability have done 
much to extend (he business of the house and 
uphold the high repute it has enjoyed for 
over a century. 

Mr. McCutcheon is a director of the Corn 
Exchange Bank. Xew York City; the Plain- 



H4 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



field Trust Company, of Plainfield, X. J., 
and the People's National Bank, of Westfield, 
\. J. He is also director of the Adirondack 
Company and a member of the New York 
Produce Exchange, Maritime Exchange, and 
the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 
York. lie is a Republican in politics, but 
of that pronounced independent type that 
stands for good government rather than party 
mis-rule. Mr. McCutcheon has traveled large- 
ly, making several trips to Europe and touring 
Egypt and the West Indies. He is a lover 
of horses and as such takes active interest in 
the Riding and Driving Club, being also a 
member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 
the New England Society in New York City 
and the Union League, Atlantic Yacht, Na- 
tional Art. Lake Placid Yacht. Plainfield 
Country. Park and Park Golf clubs. 

Mr. McCutcheon makes his home in Plain- 
field, N. .1.. hut spends his summers at Lake 
Placid. N. Y., where he has an attractive 
camp. "Asulvkit," on the shores of the lake. 
It is indisputable that our country, hetero- 
geneous as is its population, possesses a sort of 
backbone, an essential stamina, in the de- 
scendants of those hardy northern races which 

populated this conti- 
nent generations, even 
centuries ago. These 
men we find preemi- 
nent in every vocation. 
utilizing, in their pres- 
ent sphere, the hardy 
virility inculcated in 
and derived from those 
ancestors who fought 
and overcame the per- 
ils of the inhospitable 
wilderness, still main- 
taining their standards 
of honor and upright- 
ness which are SO essen- 
tial to a healthy society and which we would 
fain call American. The first ancestor of 
Arthur Theodore Stilson to see American soil 
was James Stilson. who left England about 
1625. His descendant. Andrew Stilson. mar- 
ried Charlotte Judd and settled upon the old 
homestead farm in Lewis County, New York, 
where there was born to him five children. 




ARTHT'H T. STILSON 



The youngest of these is Arthur Theodore 
Stilson, horn in 1859. Arthur T. Stilson is 
also a descendant of ( aptain Thomas Judd and 
of General Andrew Jackson. Owing in part to 
financial losses suffered by his father during 
the industrial depression of the Civil War. he 
was cast almost entirely on his own resources 
at a very early age and became somewhat pro- 
ficient at log driving and lumbering. 

Coming to New York in 1S7S, at the age 
of nineteen, he obtained employment with the 
firm of James, Aikman & Co., attending even- 
ing school during the fall and winter months 
for a time. The above firm was later con- 
solidated with four other large ones, forming 
the Central Stamping Company. Mr. Stilson 
has remained in their employ and has become 
general manager and vice-president. This 
simple statement of fact is sufficient encomium 
on his achievements in business life. Mr. 
Stilson, as one might infer, has a marked pref- 
erence for country life, living at his charming 
estate, "Westover," in Montclair, N. J., and 
indulging his taste for farming by the super- 
vision of scientific and extensive agricultural 
operations carried on at his "To-Wak-How 
Mountain Spring" Farms at Lincoln Park, 
N. J. 

Electricity has created a hundred million- 
aires in this country and electrical science has 
proved so fascinating to many men of mechan- 
ical genius that they have deserted other pro- 
fessions to pursue its study. Ralph Hamilton 
Beach, inventor of the first street car that 
successfully employed an electric storage bat- 
tery, was born at Linden, Michigan, October, 
1860, and secured his education at the High 
School of Fenton, Mich. Early in life he dis- 
played an aptitude for invention. It was 
intended he should study medicine, but, 
through a predeliction for mechanics, young 
Beach entered iron-working shops at Linden 
and later at Detroit. He began at the lowest 
rung of the mechanical ladder. He took 
service in INNS with the Thompson-Houston 
Electrical Company, at St. Paul. Minn., and 
from this corporation he received prompt and 
deserved recognition in the way of promotions. 

From 1888 to l!)(ll) were the years of de- 
velopment in electrical industry. Mr. Beach 
was soon asked to become manager of the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



I 15 



railway department of the General Electric 
Company, of New York, and at once took 
rank among prominent electrical engineers of 
tin's country. The commanding position he 
held afforded excellent opportunity for ac- 
quiring knowledge of every branch of his 
profession; it also enabled him to become 
thoroughly acquainted with the men who 
were most earnest in electrical development. 
Thomas A. Edison, known as "the Wizard of 
Menlo Park." has said of Air. Beach: "He 
is the most accurate experimenter 1 ever have 




RALPH H. BEACH 

known, his first experiment is always a success." 
Every minute of Mr. Beach's time was em- 
ployed in gaining further insight into the 
mysterious element of nature with which he 
was dealing. Nobody knows exactly what 
electricity is; but Mr. Beach has utilized it in 
its multitude of forms. Never was science 
pnl into more practical service or made to 
perform more work for mankind! ruder Mr. 
Beach's ceaseless experimentation, the splen- 
did possibilities of electricity sprang into 
recognition at a lime when all allied branches 
of science were undergoing spontaneous de- 
velopment and great minds in all parts of the 
civilized world were giving to 1 1 1**11 1 concen- 
trated mental effort. 



Mr. Beach's theory of experimentation al- 
ways was along one line; before he gave to any 
subject much of liis valuable time or expended 
thereon any considerable amount of money, 
he definitely settled, in his own mind, the 
practical uses to which the contemplated de- 
vice or appliance could be put. His motto was 
"Find the need!" Thereby, he saved lime 
and money thai other equally earnest men 
wasted! His dominating thought was thai 
nothing should be invented that could not be 
turned to the benelil of mankind in a com- 
mercial sense. (On the other hand, all im- 
provements of moderately successful inven- 
tions he believed to be desirable. lie did 
not think it unwise to attempt a further ad- 
vancement of an apparently perfected elec- 
trical device.) Too often, inventors are satis- 
lied with a mechanism that suffices for prac- 
tical service and, by "leaving well enough 
alone." retard progress. Mr. Beach's me- 
chanical qualifications enabled him to foresee 
future adaptations of electricity in every 
branch of domestic as well as commercial life. 
For years he struggled with the storage bat- 
tery problem the extreme weight of all 
existing inventions of that character barring 
them from satisfactory use on street cars or 
automobiles. It has been the dream of the 
greatest electricians living to simplify and 
lessen the dead weight of the storage battery. 
To this problem, Mr. Edison, chief electrician 
of the world, has given main 1 years of his life. 
Mr. Beach has devised a method of coordinat- 
ing the electrical and the mechanical move- 
ment of a car upon rails, so that the energy 
consumption per ton mile is one-third of that 
before known; by this extraordinary advance, 
he has made practical the use of storage bat- 
teries as a means of tram propulsion. Mr. 
Beach is a, resident of New York City and is 
a member of the Essex County Country Club, 
the N. Y. Electrical Society and belongs to 
The Founders and Patriots of America. 



Electricity is the element which has done 
more for the upbuilding of our cities than any 
other: few of us have time to stop and think 
what city life was before the introduction of 
electricity. Try and imagine what New A ork 
would be without it. 



Ufi 



THE HOOK .;/' NEW YORK 



There is distinction in being the head of an 
institution which ignores the traditions of the 
pasl and steps out in advance of the law in 
order to Fulfill what it regards its duties and 
responsibilities to the people. 

John ('. Juhring is president of Francis II. 
Leggett & Company, pioneers in the pure 
food movement. He was born in Xew York 
and educated at Mount Washington Collegiate 
[nstitute. The story of his rise to commercial 
prominence begins with his search for an 
opportunity to demonstrate what qualities he 
possessed. 

He applied to Francis II. Leggett for em- 
ployment and was given a humble clerkship. 
All he asked was "to get in." He knew where 
he would land. He rose slowly but surely. 
lie became cashier, then a department man- 
ager and finally a partner. When the business 
became a corporation. Mr. Juhring was elected 
vice-president. 

In February, 1910, shortly after Mr. Leg- 
gett's death, he was unanimously chosen 
president. 

A movement was started among the citizens 
of Xew York for the formation of a Merchants' 
Association. Mr. Juhring was a charter mem- 
ber, serving as first vice-president for five con- 
secutive terms. 1898-1903. He is a director 
of the Coal and Iron National Bank, trustee 
of the Citizens' Savings Rank, director of the 
American Can Company and of the Seacoast 
(aiming Company of Maine. Mr. Juhring 
is a Republican, though in an independent 
sense in politics, and a member of the Presby- 
terian Church. He is a member of the Xew 
York Produce Exchange and of the Board of 
Trade and Transportation. 

His clubs are the Merchants and the Ards- 
lev-on-the-IIudson. He is fond of travel. 
having made many trips to Europe. The trait 
for which he is most conspicuous is his en- 
thusiasm. He is a lover of nature and an ad- 
mirer of the beautiful. 

Those who know him best say that it is the 
sum of his many sides which has made him 
the head of what is probably the greatest and 
most distinctive importing, manufacturing and 
wholesale grocery house in the world. 




HIM; V W SCHLOSS 



When the citizens of Xew ^ ork unanimously 
decided to tender a public dinner to a practical 
philanthropist. Nathan Strauss, Mr. Henry W. 

Schloss, a prominent 
manufacturer and dis- 
tinguished c i t i z e n, 
was chosen by unani- 
mous consent, to act as 
chairman. The affair 
was one of the most 
successful in the his- 
tory of this city, the 
energy of the presiding 
officer insuring such a 
result. Henry W. 

S c h 1 o s s hails from 
Michigan, with Adrian 
as his birthplace. He 
was born there in 1XX.5. 
but was brought to 
Xew York when young and received his early 
education in our public schools, returning for 
a few years to his native state to engage in 
commercial pursuits. His immediate fore- 
bears had left Germany in the troublous year 
of 1848 a year of revolution in Germany and 
Austria, the year of the Heidelberg Assembly, 
of the uprising in Berlin, of the Prussian 
proclamation to the "German Nation," of the 
preliminary German Parliament, of the meet- 
ing of the National Assembly at Frankfort 
and of the Prussian Constitutional Conven- 
tion. Many members of the best German 
families came to America. Among these lov- 
ers of civil liberty was William J. Schloss, 
father of the subject of these remarks. 

Henry W. Schloss began his business career 
in the jewelry business at Chicago: at the age 
of twenty-one he became associated with the 
wholesale branch and for four years traveled 
widely throughout this country. The Castle 
Braid Company offered him its management 
in 1881, and he has continued with it ever 
since is its president to-day — and has devel- 
oped it into a great corporation. When a 
national organization of braid manufacturers 
was formed in 1907, Mr. Schloss was chosen 
president and has been reelected from year to 
year. He has recently been quite active in 
politics as a member of the regular Republican 
organization of the Fifteenth Assembly Dis- 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



w, 




WALTER C. RCXYON 



trict. Ho is first vice-president of tli<' Con- 
servative Republican Club and a member of 
the West Side Republican Club. Mr. Schloss 
is associated with many charitable organiza- 
tions, a fervent Mason and a practical lover 
of humanity. His unostentatious philanthro- 
py is continuous. 

Aniona' my friends no architect of his own 
fortune is more deserving of mention than 
Walter ( lark Run von, one of the leading man- 
ufacturers of pig iron 
in this country. lie 
was born at Chicago, 
April, 1N.>7. and was 
educated at Springfield, 
Ohio. His active ca- 
reer began in the fall of 
1S7 1 with the Union 
Rolling Mill ( Company 
of Chicago. In IN?!) 
he was elected secretary 
in recognition of un- 
usual services rendered 
to the corporation. Mr. 
R u n y o n moved to 
Cleveland in 1886 to 
enter the iron ore busi- 
ness, and was largely instrumental in the for- 
mation of the Lake Superior Iron Ore Associ- 
ation of Cleveland. Ohio, and acted as its 
first secretary. During his connection with 
the Iron Ore Association and as its secretary 
he effected a change in the method of selling 
iron ore — the unit of iron being valued in the 
natural state instead of when dried at 212 
degrees F., and the phosphorus values were 
fixed by a table or a schedule devised by 
him. This table never has been changed and 
has governed the settlement of all contracts 
for Lake Superior Bessemer ores since its is- 
sue. Mr. Runyon also organized the Besse- 
mer Pi*;- Iron Association. In 1894, he en- 
gaged in the blast furnace business and or- 
ganized The Struthers Furnace Co. He has 
been located in New York since 1901. 

Mr. Runyon has made several automobile 
tours through Europe and this country. lie 
is at present senior partner of Runyon, fair- 
bank & Co.: president of The Struthers Fur- 
nace Co.. and The Struthers Coal & Coke 
( ompany. 



The National Guard of New York boasts 
and has boasted capable, energetic and de- 
voted officers, lull none whose activities 
have proven more meritorious of these ad- 
jectives, or whose practical abilities have been 
of more value to that organization than Gen- 
eral Edwin Augustus McAlpin. 

Edwin is a grandson of James McAlpin, 
himself a descendant of that sturdy Scotch 
stock which invaded and colonized the north 
of Ireland in Cromwell's time. James Mc- 
Alpin came to America from the city of Bel- 
fast and settled in Dutchess County. There 
he engaged in the grocery trade, meeting with 
some success. His son. David Hunter Mc- 
Alpin. married Adelaide Rose and of these 
parents, Edwin .McAlpin was born in the year 
1848. Edwin attended Phillips Academy in 
Andover, Mass.. and was graduated during 
the early part of the Civil War. 

The Scotch-Irish blood of Edwin McAlpin. 
at the age of 14 or 15, was warmly stirred by 
the war fever and he straightaway enlisted, 
actuated, doubtless, by a desire to win fame 
similar to that borne in history by his fore- 
bears, the ('Ian Alpine. He was twice frus- 
trated in this wish by his father and set to 
work in the tobacco manufactory in Avenue D. 

Edwin McAlpin, it would seem, devoted 
his energies wholeheartedly to making this 
enterprise the striking commercial success it 
has since proved. He became a partner in 
the firm, and after his father's death president. 
This corporation, at that time the largesl of 
its kind, was later sold to the American To- 
bacco ('ompany. 

In 1869, Mr. McAlpin became a private in 
the Seventh Regiment. Five years later he 
resigned from this regiment to accept a lieu- 
tenancy in the Seventy-first, of which he 
eventually became commanding officer after a 
steady and certain rise through the inter- 
mediate ranks. During eighteen years of 
occupancy of this post, he established a most 
enviable reputation and brought his corps to a 
high degree of efficiency. 

The qualities which Colonel McAlpin dis- 
played, as commanding officer of the 7 1st. led 
Governor Morton to appoint him Adjutant- 
General of the Stale of New York, with rank 
of Major-General. During his tenure of 



US 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




JAMES B. ]'.KA1)\ 



this important ;ni<l honorable office, his ability 
and invigorating methods made themselves 
felt ;iiid appreciated throughout the entire 
service under liini and made their impress in 
the form of marked improvements. 

"Show me a man who has made a success 
of life, financially or artistically, who has 
risen to the top of his profession or is recog- 
nized among the lead- 
ers of Ins line of trade, 
no matter what that 
calling may he- and I 
will show to you a man 
who has more than or- 
dinary ability a man 
who has 'something in 
him." who commands 
respect and admiration, 
though that admiration 
may he horn more or 
less of jealousy." 

The above remark 

was made by the late 

John (i. ( Carlisle, when 

addressing a jury in 

Covington, Kentucky, years before he became 

Secretary of State in President Cleveland's 

cabinet. 

And the ••twelve men. good and true," 
nodded their approval. 

.lames Buchanan Brady was not the client 
to whom Mr. Carlisle referred, but had he 
been, the application would have been very 
appropriate. 

By his own efforts, natural intelligence, and 
unwavering application to his work, James B. 
Brady has gained a place among the leaders 
and sticks there. 

Born in New York City, he was educated 
in the public schools, and began his business 
life as an errand boy for the New York Cen 
tral Railroad. lie studied telegraphy, and 
soon became an expert operator at the Grand 
Central Station headquarters. This position 
he held for some time and was also ticket 
agent for a while. One day he saw what he 
thought "a good fhin<j'.'* and seized it. It 
was a saw used for cutting and sawing iron. 
He raised the money to purchase the patent 
rights, placed it on the market. 

It was then that young Brady developed 



extraordinary ability as a salesman. He made 
a wonderful success and his fame traveled 
before him. 

As traveling agent for Manning, Maxwell & 
Moore, one of the largest railroad supply 
houses in the country, he became interested 
in several steel and iron companies, and his 
reputation in this line extended from coast to 
coast. It is said that he earned as high as 
$.'{0,(1110 a year as a salesman independent of 
any partnership interests. He was immensely 
popular, ami his friends wore legion. 

Success begets success, and when he en- 
tered the stock market, at the entreaty of his 
friends, "in the Street." Brady was looked 
upon as a "mascot." Everything he touched 
seemed to turn into money; some said it was 
"Brady luck," hut the wise ones said, 
"Brady is no fool; he knows a good thing, 
and when he gets it. he plays it for all that it 
is worth." 

In his business affairs "Jim" Brady is ag- 
gressive; when he buckles on his commercial 
armor it is to fight- and to win. But the 
vulnerable spot in his armor is his humanity. 
He wishes ill to no one. and is ever ready to 
lighten the burden of others. 

When Mr. Brady became a factor in mat- 
ters of the turf he did so out of friendship for 
F. C. McLewes, becoming his partner. The 
combination was successful. The firm owned 
some of the greatest racers in the world, win- 
ning fabulous sums, the richest stakes in turf 
events, against the best talent of the pure 
blood stock of the English stables. 

Among their horses wore Major Dainger- 
field, Gold Heels, Oiseau, Fontainebleau and 
others that made turf history. 

Matt. Allen was the trainer of their stable 
and Mr. Brady has always given him the 
credit for their successes in the "sport of kings." 

Mr. Brady has for some years been famil- 
iarly known as "Diamond Jim," a sobriquet 
given him on account of his valuable posses- 
sions in precious stones. 

He owns some of the most unique and orig- 
inal designs extant in jewelry — creations of his 
own mind. 

As an entertainer he has few equals and no 
superiors. He enjoys giving good dinners to 



THE BOOK of NEW VOIJK 



149 



his friends and on such occasions no expense 
is spared. 

Though he has traveled in all parts of the 
world, Mr. Brady thinks thai New York, 
his home city, is the "greatest spot on 
earth" and Broadway "the only street," 
although he has kind words for the great thor- 
oughfares of London and Paris. 

Mr. Brady is vice-president of the great 
railway supply house of Manning, Maxwell & 
Moore. Incorporated; vice-president of the 
Standard Steel Car Company, president of the 
Independent Pneumatic Tool Company, and 
other equally large concerns. 

Having had the tang of travel in my own 
blood since early boyhood, I am likely to 
speak of Charles Arthur Moore, Jr., with con- 
siderable enthusiasm, 
lie was born in Lynn, 
Mass., 1880; educated 
at St. Paul's School. 
Concord, N. II.. and 
Yale University, where 
he was graduated in 
1903. I lis father is a 
member of a large man- 
ufacturing concern in 
this city and the young 
man at once applied 
himself to business. 
Prior to this time, how- 
ever, he had acquired 
wide reputation as a 
traveler. In 1897 he 
was a member of the Peary expedition to Cape 
York and assisted in bringing back the famous 
meteorites to be seen at the American Museum 
of Natural History. The call of the Arctic 
appealed to him so strongly that in 1901 he 
chartered the steam whaler "Algerine" and 
spent that summer in Hudson Strait and 
Hudson Bay. He is probably the best in- 
formed of any living man regarding that vast 
inland sea that became the grave of its dis- 
coverer. Again his love of adventure awak- 
ened when he heard that Homer Davenport, 
cartoonist, was about to fit out an expedition 
to the desert of Arabia to purchase Aral) 
horses. He promptly volunteered as a mem- 
ber of the party. What probably caused 




A. MOORE, Jr. 



Davenport to warm up to him was that he 
is an inch taller than the lanky artist. In the 
Spring of 1900, Mr. Moore weighed 245 
pounds and stood six Feet, four inches in his 
stockings! He sailed for Havre early in July 
of that year; reaching Constantinople by the 
Oriental express on .Inly U). Thence, he 
accompanied the party into the desert and 
lived for three months the life of a nomad. 
I almost hesitate to talk aboul the commer- 
cial side of so interesting a character; but Mr. 
Moore is a man of responsibilities, because 
he is bound lo inherit many of them from a 
successful father. He is already vice-presi- 
dent, secretary and director of Manning, Max- 
well & Moore. Inc.. and half a dozen other 
companies. 

Nothing is more gratifying than lo find a 
wealthy and successful merchanl and lawyer 
taking an active part in local and national 

politics. This is the 
feature that appeals to 
me in the career of E. 
W. Bloomingdale, 
born at Rome, in this 
state. November, 1852, 
and graduated at Co- 
lumbia Law School, 
1877. He practiced law 
until 1883, bul was 
associated w i t h his 
brothers in the large 
department store at 
Third Avenue and 59th 
Street until 1905. He 
has been equally suc- 
cessful at law and in 
commercial life. His experience has admi- 
rably titted him to act as receiver of many cor- 
porations and lo acquil himself with great 
credit. He is a prominent director of the 
Equitable Life Assurance Society, a di- 
rector of the Phenix National Bank, an Inter- 
state Bridge Commissioner, a member of the 
Hudson Ter-Centenary Committee. An honor 
he appreciates highly is that of Trustee of the 
Mckinley National Memorial. In charities 
of the city and state, he is particularly prom- 
inent. Especially should I mention his effi- 
cient service in behalf of the House of 

Refuge. 




E \V HI i K IMIM ,l> \ I I 



1.50 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



When the Union Pacific Railroad was ad- 
vancing by rapid stages across the plains, the 
eastern end of the rails had reached Cheyenne, 
in the state now known as Wyoming, early in 
1S(!7. Several of the civil engineers and con- 
tractors lived with their families in box cars, 
shunted upon sidings until such time as they 
might move to the next stage of construction, 
further west. In such quarters one of the 
mosl interesting men in this big city, William 
B. Walker, now dwelling on Riverside Drive, 
was horn, March 14th of that year. This boy 
began active work for himself at the age of 
twelve. The railroad had been completed 
long before, bul he was still a hardy youngster 
of the plains. He employed a team of horses, 
a wagon and half a dozen barrels for drowning 
out prairie dogs and capturing them when 
they emerged from their burrows. These 
curios hesold to tourists. While dog-catching 
he observed that the plains were covered with 
buffalo bones and finding a market for them 
in a New Jersey factory town, he shipped 
many carloads at a good profit. When the 
bone supply was exhausted, young Walker 
took to the saddle and "followed the cows" 
for three years in that section of Dakota and 
Wyoming rendered famous by Colonel Theo- 
dore Roosevelt. Thus did he complete his 
education in the splendid college of experience, 
combining attrition with men of the frontier, 
giving their lives to "winning of the west," 
and a study of methods of money-making 
suggested by his environment. He embarked 
in general merchandising, established a chain 
of five stores and ran the business into half 
a million annual sales only to learn, when the 
panic of 1893 swept over the land, that his 
craft was built for sailing on smooth financial 
seas. It foundered with all on board in the 
first big blow. Mr. Walker says he reached 
the conclusion in 1894 that he wasn't nearly 
so smart as he had thought himself. He 
realized that if money was to be acquired he 
must go where money was plenty. He selected 
New York, because, in his opinion, success is 
easier here than failure. Harkening to the 
call of the city, he studied mankind with a 
view to deciding which line of trade offered 
the surest road to fortune. Manufacturing, 
he concluded, had provided the basis of a 



larger number of fortunes of the second class 
than any other line of endeavor; and as his 
chief asset at that time was the knowledge that 
the percentages had to be in his favor, he be- 
came a manufacturer. There are no "get- 
rich-quick schemes" for men from the tall 
grass country. 

First, Mr. Walker must find something to 
manufacture! Chief importance lay in the 
selection of the article. He wanted to make 
something that had never been made before; to 
do something that never had been done before; 




\V\I. B. WALKER 

to create an article thai would do what every- 
body wanted done, — in short, an article that 
nobody else but he could make! These 
specifications were no! easy to comply with. 
Mr. Walker spent twelve years, crowded with 
patient effort, seeking this apparently unat- 
tainable object. He visited more than half 
the States of the Union and every manufac- 
turing centre of England, France. Italy. 
Austria and Germany. Quite by accident, he 
was introduced to a resident of Berlin who had 
received a keg of caviar from a friend in Russia. 
This German asked Walker to help him con- 
sume it. At the home of his host he was in- 
troduced to Rheinhold Burger, a famous glass 



THE HOOK of NEW YOKK 



15] 



manufacturer, who casually mentioned an 
idea of his for a field or hunting flask that 
would retain the temperature of its contents 
for several days. Subsequent interviews 
brought Herr Burger's idea to the blue-print 
stage, — the first models of Thermos bottle. 
German, English and American companies 
were quickly organized and to-day, five years 
from the date of its discovery, this remarkably 
useful article is handled by 50,000 dealers 
in the thirty civilized countries of the world. 
Mr. Walker ascribes his brilliant success to 
habits of industry acquired in youth and to the 
timely arrival of that keg of caviar! He re- 
cently said to me that after spending so much 
of his life on the plains, the most awe-inspiring- 
moment he has ever known was when he first 
gazed upon the vast watery expanse of the 
ocean. Mr. Walker is a thorough cosmopoli- 
tan and he belongs to several social clubs. 

The South Shore of Kong Island may be 
accurately described as "the Riviera of Greater 
New York." Sir John Tindall, when here 

twenty-odd years ago, 
declared that children 
were born who would 
live to see royal palms 
growing on the ocean 
shore of Kong Island. 
He predicted that the 
Gulf Stream w o u I d 
gradually work nearer 
to land and that the 
modifying effect of its 
w a r m currents upon 
climate would be such 
as to render the South 
Shore one of the most 
delightful residential lo- 
calities in the Temper- 
ate Zone. Americans who have visited 
Genoa and especially its suburb, Pegli, will 
remember the splendid array of palms at the 
latter place and wonder why such tropical 
trees are to be found there, when the latitude 
is 4-t degrees X. New York lies in about 
41 degrees X.. and if the Gulf Stream does its 
duty, as predicted by the scientist, my friend, 
Richard A. Bachia, living at Bay Shore, will 
possess a country home equally attractive at 
all seasons of the year. His grandfather, 




RICHARD A. BACHIA 



Nicholas C. Bachia, came to New York from 
Venice in 1818, and married a Miss Waldron, 
member of an old Dutch family that had come 
to America in l(i-K). 

Richard A. Bachia is a product of "Green- 
wich Village," on the West Side of Manhattan 
Island, where his father lived and where he 
was born in Charles Street. Mr. Bachia was 
graduated from the public schools and ob- 
tained a position with a leaf tobacco house. 
A few years' apprenticeship convinced him 
that he had the taste of a connoisseur on Cuba's 
product. After following this line for twenty- 
five years, buying, importing and selling, he 
began the manufacture of Havana cigars in 
New York, in 1901, importing the leaf direct 
and making up the product here. His success 
has been gratifying, because his plan was a 
decided innovation from the fact that the 
market can be supplied with the fresh goods 
instead of the dry product, which lovers of 
the weed do not esteem. 

Mr. Bachia has made many trips to Cuba; 
he is fond of all kinds of sports, particularly 
golfing and yachting. He is a lover of books 
and possesses an excellent library. His home 
at Bay Shore, on the South Country Road, 
is one of the show places of that locality. 
Ross's "History of Long Island" deals with 
the family history to some extent. Richard 
A. Bachia is a member of the New York 
Yacht, Hanover and South Side Field clubs. 
He is a trustee' of the Citizens Savings Hank 
of New ^ ork and a director of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Bay Shore, L. I. 

Sugar is one of the world's staples. Im- 
provement in methods of producing the refined 
article has been due to efforts of American 
refiners like B. II. Howell, Son & Co., of this 
city. A prominent member of that firm is 
James Howell Host, who has been connected 
with it as clerk and partner since 1874. He 
knows the sugar business from start to finish, 
as thoroughly as any living man. He was 
born at New Rochelle, X. Y., October, 1859, 
and. after finishing at the public schools of 
that town, plunged into commercial business. 
He is to-day president of the National Sugar 
Refining Company of New Jersey, a director 
of the National City Bank the strongest in- 
stitution of its kind in this country, occupying 



1 52 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



the site of the old Custom House -director 
and treasurer of the Chaparra Sugar Com- 
pany and various other corporations engaged 
in the manufacture of sugar. He is a trustee 
in the Williamsburg Savings Bank and a 
director in the United States Realty and Im- 
provement Company and many other cor- 
porations. Mr. Post is a sincere believer in 
helping the American hoy and to that end. from 
early in his successful commercial career, has 
Keen a sturdy supporter of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, the Industrial School 
Association of Brooklyn, and of the hospital 
and dispensary system of that borough. He is 
a Presbyterian in his religious views, hut 
knows no creed in his charities. 

The Parker family of Xew Jersey came from 
England by way of Barnstable. Mass., in l(i-K), 
settling at Woodbridge, X. -I.. in 1667. For 
three generations, descendants of Elisha Par- 
ker were members of the King's Council for 
the Province and held commissions as Colonels 
and Captains of Provisional Troops engaged 
in ceaseless warfare against the Indian tribes. 

Subsequent members of 
the Parker family have 
been members of State 
Legislatures a ml of 
< !ongress. R obert 
Meade Parker, now in 
active commercial en- 
terprises in Greater 
Xew ^ ork, is a son of 
( Ortlandt Parker, a dis- 
tinguished jurist, orator 
and diplomat, and was 
born in Xew ark. N . J.. 
1S(I4. He received his 
education at St. Paul's 
School. ( loncord, X.H., 
and at Phillips Exeter 
Academy, finishing at Princeton University in 
1885. After graduation he obtained a clerk- 
ship with the Erie Railroad, serving part of the 
time in President King's office. He became 
division freight agent in 1890, general freight 
aeent in 1902, and. in 1905, was chosen traffic 
manager for the American Sugar Refining 
Company. His selection as President of the 
Brooklyn Cooperage Company followed in 
1 !)()(! and this post he still retains. lie is 




ROB] l: 1 M. PARKER 



the sugar 
argely d\u- 



President of the Pennsylvania Stave, the But- 
ler County Railroad, and the Great Western 
Laud Companies and is vice-president of the 
Oleona Railroad. Despite his active business 
career. Mr. Parker has always taken deep 
interest in military matters, serving as a mem- 
ber of the highly exclusive Essex Troop of 
Xew .Jersey from 1890 to ISDN, when he was 
chosen 1st lieutenant and battalion adjutant 
of the 12th Infantry, Xew York Volunteers, 
and promoted to Captain and Regimental 
Quartermaster, June 1. 1898. This post im- 
posed upon him entire charge of the field 
equipment of the regiment for the Spanish- 
American War. Mr. Parker was actively em- 
ployed at Peekskill. Chickamauga Park, Ga., 
and in Kentucky, resigning his commission 
after the conclusion of peace. lie afterwards 
joined the 12th Regiment, X. G. X. Y., serving 
until l!M)cS, when he resigned. 

The wonderful development o 
industry in this country has been 
to strictly scientific talent employed in work- 
ing out the most ap- 
proved methods of re- 
fining the raw article of 
commerce. The Amer- 
ican Sugar Refining 
Company has always 
commanded the best 
gray matter to lie had. 
At the head of its Man- 
ufacturing and Supply 
Department is Henry 
Ernest Niese, a practi- 
cal chemist, who, for 
forty years, has special- 
ized on the scientific 
methods employed in 
the sugar i n d u s t r y. 
Equipped with complete technical training. 
secured at the best institutions of Europe, he 
came to America as a young man and served 
a thorough apprenticeship as chemist in the 
refinery business. Of late years he has 
shown that he is equally as efficient in an ex- 
ecutive post as in places demanding scientific 
know ledge. Mr. Niese was born on the Island 
of Fehmarn, Germany, in 1848. He is of un- 
mixed German blood. He was educated in 
his native country. He entered the Univer- 




1 1 1 N 1 ; v E. NIESE 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



1 53 



sity of Kiel and studied chemistry at Leipsic. 
His college studies were interrupted by the 
Franco-Prussian War, in which he served as 
a private in the Thirty-sixth Etegimenl of 
Fusilliers. Returning to college, he was grad- 
uated in INT.'S and came immediately l<> the 
Tinted States to act as chemist for the Mat- 
thiessen-Wiechers Sugar Refinery, of Jersey 
City. At the end of six years he was made 
superintendent of the establishment and still 
holds that position, although, in L887, the 
concern was taken into the American Sugar 
Refining Company. Mr. Niese has been a 
member of the American Chemical Society 
since its organization. lie belongs to the 
Chemists' Chili and the Carteret Chili, of 
Jersey City. He is also a director of the First 
National Bank of Jersey City. Mr. Niese 
is, by temperament, an earnest and painstak- 
ing workman in whatever he undertakes. His 
early training inspired him with a profound 
love of research and he couldn't lie other than 
a student, if he tried. His library is one of the 
most valuable private collections of books 
in the city of his residence. 

Sugar, next to bread and salt, is a "staff of 
life!" Among the wildest tribes of American 
Indians, sugar-making has always been one 
of the Spring ceremonials, equalled only by 
the gathering of the wild rice in the Autumn. 
Therefore, sugar is a theme over which one may 
be justified in waxing eloquent. I want to 
speak of a man who has been actively engaged 
in manufacturing sugar for thirty-four years. 
F. 1). Mollenhauer, vice-president and treas- 
urer of the National Sugar Refining ( Company, 
of New Jersey and New York. When the 
parent corporation of this industry, the Na- 
tional Sugar Refining Company, was organized, 
in 1900, its most important accession was the 
Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Company, of 
Brooklyn, with a daily capacity of 14,000 bar- 
rels of the refined product. This enormous 
business had been created by John Mollen- 
hauer, father of the present head of the family. 
F. 1). Mollenhauer was born in New York 
City fifty-odd years ago. was educated at the 
public schools and took a finishing course 
at the Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn. He 
was a hard student in the sciences, having 
real enthusiasm in his life's work. He then 



be 



;gan a practical training in the sugar refining 
business that equipped him for the great re- 
sponsibilities sure to fall upon his shoulders. 
When he succeeded his father, he linill a new 
refinery, one of the largest in I he United States, 
employing several hundred men in its manj 







wx 4 *^ n 








-M 












^^W / I 




WmSla 








\ Ha 








Btt- ji£&F^.-?& 





FRED'K l>. MOLLENHAUER 

diverse branches. The building became a 
landmark in the city of Brooklyn. The ca- 
pacity of the refinery was more than doubled 
by this addition to its plant. Mr. Mollen- 
hauer always has been a prominent factor in 
the National Sugar Refining Company since 
the consolidation of his interests therewith, 
and his rise to the vice-presidency was a 
recognition of his efficiency and capacity as an 
executive director therein. lie is identified 
with half a dozen other large corporations. 



154 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



holding directorships in the Cuban-American 
Sugar Company and the St. Regis Paper ( !om- 
pany. He is also a director in the Manufac- 
turers' National Hank and Nassau Trust Com- 
pany and a trustee of the United States 
Llovds. His thirty-four years of active com- 
mercial life,crowded with many responsibilities, 
have not dulled his social tendencies, as is 
shown by his members-hip in the New York 
and Atlantic Yacht clubs, the Automobile 
Club of America, the National Democratic 
and the New York Athletic clubs of Manhat- 
tan, and the Hanover and Union League clubs 
of Brooklyn. Mr. Mollenhauer is an inde- 
pendent Democrat but has never taken an 
active part in politics. 

A fellow Ohioan for whom I have great ad- 
miration is D. Alvin Fox, born at New Phila- 
delphia, May. 1870, and who finished his 
education at the Ohio Wesleyan University, 

Delaware, where I my- 
self passed (wo happy 
years. Mr. Fox began 
his active career in 1 SS!) 
as office clerk in the 
cooperage department 
of the Standard Oil Co., 
at Cleveland, and re- 
signed two years later 
to accept a place in the 
engineering department 
of the Walker Manu- 
facturing ( 'ompany. in 
the same city. There 
:> A F0X he served four years' 

apprenticeship, during 
which period, by special study after office 
hours, he completed an engineering course. His 
natural inclinations were towards mechanics 
and he took advantage of all opportunities. 
Haying completed an apprenticeship he went 
to the Dickson Manufacturing Company, of 
Scranton, Pa., and thence returned to his 
former employers, the Walker Manufacturing 
Company, where he remained until 1897, 
when he made the great step of his life by 
becoming identified with the Honolulu Iron 




Works Company, of Hawaii. In that wonder- 
ful country he passed nearly eight years, and. 
as head of the engineering department of the 
company. he carried out many improvements in 
machinery and the enterprise grew to one of 
large proportions. He was sent to New York 
in 1905 to open an office of the company and 
lias been its manager ever since. The Hono- 
lulu Iron Works Company was established in 
1852 by 1). Weston, inventor of the marvelous 
centrifugal machine for drying sugar. Its 
works now occupy nearly seven acres of ground 
and arc specially equipped for the manufacture 
of sugar-making machinery. The number of 
its employees varies from 300 to 600 men. 
Nearly all new machinery installed in the 
sugar factories of Hawaii was supplied by this 
company. The following modern establish- 
ments, with cane capacity per day, will indi- 
cate the growth of the Honolulu Iron Works' 
business: Oahu Sugar Company, 1,450 tons; 
Wailuku, 1,200; Waialua Agricultural Com- 
pany, 1,400: Ewa Plantation Company, 2,500; 
Olaa Sugar Company, 1,200; Puunene, L 2,500 
tons; Puako, 200 tons; Hawi, S00 tons; and 
Ililo Sugar Company, 1,200 tons. This large 
manufacturing plant has already sent a com- 
plete outfit to the Tobasco Plantation Com- 
pany, Oaxaquena, Mexico; remodeled four 
factories in Porto Rico, one with a capacity of 
4,500 tons of cane per day; designed and built 
five factories on the Island of Formosa. A 
new factory of 1.000 tons daily capacity has 
just been shipped to the Philippine Islands. 
It has been a successful bidder for contracts 
in Louisiana, especially a new 1,400 ton cane 
mill at Adeline. Mr. Fox has developed the 
business of the new office to its full capacity. 
No better proof of the fact that New York 
City can furnish thoroughly equipped business 
men is needed than is shown in the successful 
career of J. Henry Dick, who was born in 
this city in 1N51 and who hurried through his 
education to enter the sugar refining business, 
at the age of seventeen, with his father. His 
life from that hour has been wholly devoted 
to the activities of a business career, and he 
is to-day one of the directing spirits of the 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



155 



National Refining Company. He early be- 
came an associate of the late Cord Meyer in 
the development of Long Island property; 
he assisted in the creation of the Citizens' 
Water Supply Company, the Charles Rice 
Milling Company and the St.Regis Paper Mills. 
He is associated as a Director in the Manu- 
facturers' Bank and the German Savings 
Bank of Brooklyn. These enterprises by no 
means cover the field of his activities. Mr. 




J. HENRY DICK 

Dick is a member of the Metropolitan, 
Athletic and Riding and Driving ('Inks of 
Manhattan and of the Hanover ('Ink of 
Brooklyn, which would indicate that he is 
fond of social life as well as business. 

In 1837, Maximilian Schaefer, son of a 
successful brewer in Germany, came to this 



to- 




RUDOLPH J. SCHAEFER 



country; later he joined his brother and 
gether they established 
the firm of V. ik M. 
Schaefer. That was in 
1N-1>2, which gives to 
the Schaefer establish- 
ment pioneership as 
lager beer brewers in 
the United States. Ru- 
dolph J. Schaefer. son 
of Maximilian, w a s 
born in this city in Feb- 
ruary, 1863. His edu- 
cation was received in 
private and p u b 1 i c 
schools and embraced 
general academic in- 
struction and thorough 

commercial courses. After graduation he spent 
two years in downtown commercial and mer- 
cantile life, and then took up the business of his 
father and rose through all grades and depart- 
ments of the calling by dint of his own appli- 
cation and efforts to the position of manager 
of the manufacturing branch. It may be said 
that to-day he is one of the best known and 
most popular men in the brewing business in 
the United States. His activities have not 
been confined within the limits of the concern 
which bears his surname, but he has for many 
years played a leading and conspicuous part 
in the national, state and city organizations 
which recruit their membership from among 
all the brewers of the United States. State and 
City of New York. 

He is serving his third term as president 
of the Xew York State Brewers' Association, 
anil previous to that he had been president of 
the Lager Beer Brewers' Board of Trade of 
Xew York and Vicinity for a period of two 
years. Mr. Schaefer is now the vice-president 
of the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Co.. and 
president of the Schaefer (Realty) Company, 
and is also interested in many other industrial 
enterprises. He is a trustee of the German 
Hospital and 1 )ispensary. He is a life member 
of the Xew York Athletic Club and "Big 
Chief" of the Huckleberry Indians thereof: 
a " Lamb." a " Pilgrim," a member of a dozen 
or more other clubs and associations in all the 
dilferent ramifications of metropolitan life. 



156 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 




I COIT JOHNSON 



A Connecticut cotton manufacturer who 

was amons the first of ;ill Northern men to sec 
the wisdom of taking the mill to the cotton 

planl instead of trans- 
porting the raw mate- 
rial to the \e\\ Eng- 
la rid factory is F. ( 'oil 
Johnson. lie was 
born in Norwich, ( !onn., 
in 1863 and was edu- 
cated at the academy 
in thai city. At an 
earlv age he plunged 
into the cotton busi- 
ness as a commission 
merchant and after sev- 
eral years' active expe- 
rience as a trader, he 
received an oiler from 
a large manufacturing 
company thai promised rapid advancement. 
In doubt as to the desirability of an acceptance, 
however, he consulted J. II. Lane, one of the 
most prominent cotton factors in New York. 
Mr. Lane heard his story and promptly 
offered to him a very Battering position in his 
own company. He is now the president of 
.1. II. Lane & Co. and of the Hampton Cot- 
ton Company, Last Hampton, Mass. He is 
a director in four large cotton manufacturing 
corporations in La Grange, Comers and Man- 
chester. Ga. lb" occupies various official 
positions in many other companies. He has 
Keen an early and enthusiastic autoinobilist. 
spending much of his time in the enjoyment 
of this sport. Mr. Johnson's country home is 
at Mill Neck (Locust Valley), Long Island, 
within easy motoring distance of the metrop- 
olis, where the family passes their Summers. 
I ike many men who have made their own way 
in this world. Mr. Johnson is fond of associa- 
tion with his fellows. He belongs to several 
clubs, among which may be mentioned the 
Union League. Merchants' and Hardware of 
Manhattan, and the Country Club of Nassau 
County. As a high distinction, Mr. Johnson 
rates his election to the ( 'hamber of Commerce 
of the State of New York. Mr. Johnson is 
devoted to literature, as well as commerce, 
and is informed regarding all new books. 




II \ I ; I ; V IS. THAYER 



Of great prominence in the electrical field 
and vice-president of the Telephone and 
Telegraph Company, one of the largest cor- 
porations in this coun- 
try, is Harry Hates 
Thayer, who started 
his business life in a 
savings bank at North- 
field, Vt., .'5.'5 years ago. 
Mr. Thayer was born 
in that town August. 
1858, and after a public 
school education was 
graduated at Dart- 
mouth College, 1879. 
lb- attained Phi Beta 
Kappa and was a mem- 
ber of the Delta Kappa 
Epsilon fraternity. Dis- 
regarding false starts 
in his career, he began 

as a clerk for the Western Electric Company, 
of Chicago. January, 1881. From that point 
Mr. Thayer has never ceased to rise and thirty- 
odd years' growth has lifted him from clerk- 
ship, local manager, general manager, vice- 
president and president of the Western Elec- 
tric ( lompany to the vice-presidency of the great 
corporation that now controls the telephone 
and a large share of the telegraphic business 
of the United States. He ascribes his success 
to persistent application and continuity of 
purpose. He stuck to his job and grew with 
it! Mr. Thayer is a director in several com- 
panies subordinate to the ones in which he is 
president and vice-president. He comes from 
old Massachusetts Hay ancestry, none of 
whom arrived later than 1700 or settled else- 
where than in Xew England. In politics, he 
is decidedly independent, believing thai capac- 
ity and integrity are what qualify men for 
public confidence. He never has held political 
office, his activities in that direction being 
confined to exercising his own duties as a voter; 
he is of serious thought a student at all times. 
Mr. Thayer is a member of the University 
and Salmagundi clubs of New York, the 
Union League of Chicago, the Xew York 
Chamber of Commerce and the Xew England 
Society of Xew York. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



157 



CHAPTER XVII 



COMEDY OF JOURNALISM 




MEMORABLE football game 
between two of the great Uni- 
versities, was played at Berke- 
ley Oval. As Managing Editor 
of the New York World. 1 was 
anxious to <>-et some advertising 
out ot the event. Several of us 
put our heads together and hit upon this 
scheme : 

We would obtain an ambulance, equip it 
with physicians and drivers and send it to a 
place outside the fence surrounding the foot- 
hall field to await opportunity. On one side 
of the enclosure was a gate that we proposed 
to utilize; arrangements of a financial char- 
acter were made with an attendant at the 
grounds to throw open that portal on a signal 
which I would give from the grand stand. 

The ambulance was borrowed from the 
Department of Charities and Correction; its 
leather sides were replaced by new ones, set- 
ting forth in large letters the legend: 'The 
New York World's Special Football Ambu- 
lance." The daily circulation of the news- 
paper was. incidentally, given in figures! A 
surgeon, at $25, was seated in the vehicle. 
A driver, who had explicit orders, held the 
lines. The ambulance was ready outside the 
gateway: I took my seat on the grand stand, 
at a point from which I could lie seen by the 
gateman. 

There were 8,000 people on the grounds, 
to every one of whom I hoped to impart a 
distinct mental impression that the World 
was the most alive newspaper in the metropo- 
lis. The first half of the game ended without 
a case of injury! Was our splendid scheme 
to fail ? It looked so. 

The second half began more lively. Several 
new men had been substituted, and they played 
with an impetuosity that the tired members 
of the teams could not withstand. ".Jack" 



Mumford, formerly of a Princeton eleven, 
was writing the story of the game. Ten 
minutes passed and not a player failed to get 
up after a tackle or a down! 

Suddenly, there was a mass play in front 
of the grandstand. As the squirming players 
were pulled oil' the body of the man with the 
ball, I saw the youngster was unconscious. 
The moment had come! 

The signal was given; the gate swung open 
and our ambulance dashed into the enclosure. 
The horse at full gallop, it came to the side of 
the injured man. Quicker than can be writ- 
ten, a stretcher was out. the sufferer was lifted 
thereon, pushed into the vehicle and away 
went the horse! 

The ambulance had disappeared through 
the gate, amid tumultuous cheering, before 
the captain of the team realized that we had 
"kidnapped" one of his best men, under the 
guise of doing an act of mercy. 

Meanwhile, the driver and physician had 
orders to take their patient to the nearest city 
hospital and not to release him under any 
circumstances until they had delivered him 
to the physician in charge. Hut the unex- 
pected occurred. 

The injured man came to himself and de- 
manded to know where hi' was being taken. 
In vain, he was assured of serious injuries. 
He swore he wouldn't go to a hospital, and 
began to recover his strength with alarming 
rapidity. At the end of a mile, the doctor, 
who was somewhat of an athlete, was engaged 
in a death grapple with the famous guard. 
They fought all the way to Central Park. 
The driver was bound for Roosevelt Hospital, 
but made the mistake of attempting to drive 
through the park. Advertising signs upon 
a wagon are an infraction of a city ordinance. 
Before he had passed McGowan's Tavern a 
mounted policeman was in hot chase. Arres 



158 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



followed and the party landed at the old Ar- 
senal station. 

The whole episode then came out. It 
seemed so humorous to the police captain 
that he discharged the driver; the famous left 
guard laughed heartily and shook hands with 
the plucky doctor, who had a hue black eye 
to console him for his fidelity to instructions. 

lint we got the advertising. Needless to 
say, we were thoroughly abused by our com- 
petitors— envious because the idea hadn't oc- 
curred to them. It was such an easy thought, 
don't you see; anybody could have done the 
trick, had they been given the idea. 

A School of Journalism had Keen estab- 
lished at Cornell University, my alma mater, 
and when a case of smallpox appeared in Sage 
College, a part of the university for women 
students. 1 thought an opportunity had arisen 
in which to serve the institution. The school 
had begun work under the deanship of a 
former exchange reader in a New York office; 
and pretended attempts were made at report- 
ing local events. When the case of smallpox 
appeared, the faculty, with grave wisdom, 
decided that the 3,000 students must be vac- 
cinated, as a safeguard against contagion. 
The two hundred and more young women 
were included, which added human interest 
to a properly written account of the adminis- 
tration of the virus. 

1 wiied Dean Smith: "Here's a chance to 
demonstrate the practical worth of the in- 
struction in journalism now given at Cornell. 
The World desires to engage ten members of 
your school and will pay regular space rates 
for .'{(10 words of a signed article from each 
pupil. Methods of vaccination should be 
described,— especially the comparative forti- 
tude of young men and women. Kindly avoid 
duplications. We want a plain, matter-of- 
fact narrative of the entire incident. An in- 
terview with Dr. Hurt G. Wilder should be 
added." Could any thought have been more 
practical.' But that Dean did not rise to an 
opportunity to advance the interests of his 
school; he sent a curt and impudent reply. 
I then engaged the staff of a local Ithaca 
newspaper and the thorough manner in which 
the interesting event was "covered" resulted 



in the abolition of the course of instruction. 

Chicago has a humor of its own and a special 
brand of humorists. The "guying" of guests 
is of modern invention. It probably originated 
witli the Clover Club of Philadelphia; but 
the Gridiron of Washington, and the tem- 
porarily successful Quaint Club of tins city, 
carried the offense to greater lengths. That 
a member of the Chicago Society of Indians 
should have accoutred himself in woman's 
garb and intruded upon the dinner to claim 
his affinity in the person of the professional 
humorist is nothing unusual, as matters are 
understood in Chicago. 

Eugene Field was responsible for a great 
many practical jokes, but they were always 
redeemed by the merit of originality and 
perfect good humor. Field's answer to a 
visitor who had worn out his welcome is 
historical. 

"Ah! Mr. Field, why do you have wire 
netting in vour window.'" he asked. 

'To enable me to resist the constant im- 
pulse to jump the ten stories when 1 am 
bored." 

"Aw! very clever, Mr. Field," commented 
the Englishman, squaring himself for a pro- 
tracted stay. 

"But it is detachable," retorted Field, with 
annoyance; "and I am about to remove it." 
The stranger departed. 

The best practical joke Field ever played 
was upon his discoverer and exploiter, Mel- 
ville E. Stone. During tin- Columbian 
World's Fair, a distinguished group of Euro- 
pean journalists and diplomats expressed a 
wish to visit the office of the Chicago Daily 
News and a date for their coming was set. 
When the party arrived and the building was 
inspected, a universal desire existed to be in- 
troduced to Eugene Field. He had a room to 
himself and the party was conducted thither. 
When the door was opened in response to 
a gruff "Come in!" the poet was seen sitting 
at Ins desk, garbed in a convict's suit and to 
his ankle was attached a chain and ball. His 
hail' was cut as short as a clipper could make 
is. lie glared at his visitors. 

'This is only another proof of the heartless 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



159 



character of my task-master," lie said, with 
every appearance of anger. "1 hoped to he 
spared this humiliation. But no; he is piti- 
less. Not only does he compel me to wear 
'stripes' as an evidence of my servility and 
degradation in being connected with his news- 
paper, hut he chains me to this ball so that I 
cannot escape." 

Melville E. Stone never was wholly unpre- 
pared for a surprise from Field. lie flushed 
a trifle, but said. "Everything he says is true: 
humorists have to be chained in Chicago. If 
they get loose, they are liable to kill people. 
This poor fellow, gentlemen, is as dangerous as 
his jokes are harmless." 

I recall an experience of my own with the 
Whitechapel Club of Chicago. I arrived in 
that city late one night and having registered 
at Mr. Bends' hotel, on the lake front, was 
preparing to go to bed when there came 
a peremptory knock at my door. I opened; 
a policeman stood beside the hall boy. The 
officer put me under arrest, telling me, in surly 
tones, to get into my clothes! I sent the boy 
for Mr. Bemis, but he had disappeared. I 
demanded to see the warrant and I was shown 
a sure enough document, properly made out 
and signed by a magistrate. It looked regular, 
bore my name and charged me with criminal 
libel! In vain, I tried to secure telephonic 
communication with two lawyers known to 
me; but my messages did not get beyond the 
ground floor of the Richelieu. Finally, I was 
rudely led to the elevator, taken downstairs 
and bundled into a cab. The driver had his 
orders, obviously, for he whipped up his 
horses and dashed away at high speed. Turn- 
ing into a narrow alley, he slopped before a 
disreputable doorway. 

"Where have you brought me?" I de- 
manded. 

'To the magistrate's," was the reply. 

We entered an anteroom, and beyond the 
closed door sounds of hilarious revelry were 
heard. It didn't look like a magistrate's 
court, but Chicago is different from other 
towns. 

"Go inside and tell his honor that 1 have 
the prisoner here." said the officer to a frowsy 
attendant. The young man disappeared and 
a hush at once fell upon the multitude assem- 



bled within. The flunkey reappeared. The 
door was thrown open, I was marched down to 
a long table and formally surrendered to the— 
Whitechapel Club. I was seated under a 
noose that had hanged a man: behind me. 
upon the wall, was a black cap that had hid- 
den the awful death agonies of another un- 
fortunate fellow creature. 

I had told the cabby to wait: but when 
the stars were singing together, about 
4 a.m., the cabman insisted upon driving up 
the steps of the Leland House, because he 
asserted it was a short cut into the Richelieu. 

I was sent to Philadelphia to report a first 
night of a comic opera entitled "The King 
of No-Land." It was a great occasion and 
the Broad Street Theatre was crowded. After 
speaking of the leading singers in my tele- 
graphic report, a glance at the programme 
suggested reference to the young person who 
played the part of the King. She was a slight. 
anaemic creature, suffering dreadfully from 
stage fright. Thinking to treat her kindly, 
I added the following sentence: 'The young 
lady who played the King appeared to be in 
constant fear that somebody would play the 
ace." 

When one is standing at a telegraph desk 
to send a dramatic criticism, he lacks repose; 
his words are wanting in finish that other- 
wise would characterize them. 

Next morning, I went to the Herald's 
Philadelphia office to write a letter. Hardly 
had I seated myself when an immense man 
entered, carrying a large club. He demanded 
to see the regular correspondent. I told him 
Mr. Browning had not arrived. 

"I want to see him and to teach him what 
it means to insult my wife, as he does in his 
notice of her appearance as the King at the 
Broad Street Theatre last night." He then 
explained that he was the husband of the pale, 
scared creature and was grossly incensed at 
the opinion expressed about her. 

It was in the early days of the telephone. 
I stepped behind a curtain, rang the tele- 
phone bell violently and pretended to have 
the following conversation : 

"Hello, is that you Browning.' 
(dad to have caught you before you came 
down. There's a chap here who is going to 



li;o 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



club you for what appears in the Herald this 
morning, criticizing his wife. No; I am not 
joking. . • • Stop at the Fencing and 
Sparring Club and bring Jimmy Murray, the 
English prize fighter, with you. . . . Yes, 
1 am in dead" earnest. . . . Oh, you're 
right. Jimmy '11 do him up. Come at once, 
the man is impatient." 



I pretended to hang up the receiver, al- 
though 1 hadn't taken it off the hook, returned 
to the outer office, and advised the visitor to 
wait for Mr. Browning. I then resumed my 
writing and after a few minutes the much ex- 
cited husband said he would rail again and 
left the office. 




THi; BROOKLYN EAGLE 



Upper view shows the site as it appeared forty years ago when it was occupied by the Brooklyn 
Theatre which was destroyed l>\ Bre in 1876 a- described in another chapter 



THE BOOK of NEW YOliK 



k;i 



CHAPTER XVIII 



FIRST AMERICAN DAILY NEWSPAPER IN COLORS 




|HE New York Recorder started 
with a splendid impulse. It 
was thoroughly advertised and 
when it appeared, the people 
bought it with avidity. Many 
new features were introduced, 
among winch were large illus- 
trations and a daily page of matter devoted 
to women. But its most venturesome inno- 
vation was the use of color in its daily issues. 
George W. Turner, who had been the pub- 
lisher of the World, look charge of the new 
journal a short time after its birth and pushed 
it with the vigor he had previously shown. 
lie asked me to take charge of the news and 
color departments. The latter task was much 
the more difficult of the two, because the use of 
color on rotary presses had not been success- 
fully accomplished. White paper, from a 
roll, passed over four separate cylinders, the 
first printing black — in which the letter press 
was run- -and the three others carrying in turn 
the primitive colors, red, yellow and blue 
inks. After weeks of trial, the fault was seen 
to be with the inks. The "register" was 
satisfactory but all attempts to blend the col- 
ors failed. For example, when blue was 
superimposed upon yellow, green was not 
produced— the second color would not mix 
with the first. Many whole days and sleep- 
less nights were devoted to securing the hoped 
result but without success. Slowly as the 
press might be run. the effect was not satis- 
factory. One discovery of value was made, 
namely the employment of the white back- 
ground for giving what artists call "high 
lights" to pictures. I engaged several young 
artists who have since become famous in black 
and white and in oils. I brought ( '. H. Macauley 
from Cleveland and he began his career as a 
cartoonist which has now placed him in the 
front rank. His work on the World to-day is 
generally conceded to lie about the most 



popular in this city. Leon Barrett, a man 
of established reputation, and William F. 
Ver Beck, who has since attained national 
fame with his "Tiny Tads," were on the art 
stall'. George B. Luks, who had studied 
abroad, was there and did some remarkable 
illustrating in the Parisian style; Luks has now 
attained a high place as a figure painter in 
oils. William Iloffaker, a promising free- 
hand draftsman, with ships as his specialty, 
did much excellent work. But the director 
of the color work, a capable man with a tine 
reputation in lithography, could not make 
the press do justice to the drawings. Daily 
use of color had to be abandoned, although 
the Sunday paper retained a color supple- 
ment. Comics were printed in color — the 
beginning of what has since proved to be the 
best circulation builders on more modern Sun- 
day issues. Mr. Duke, one of the Recorder's 
largest stockholders, argued that the public 
did not care for color; but subsequent history 
proves that the fault lay with the immature 
printing machine, not with the artists or 
patrons of the newspaper. 

The Recorder was the first Eastern news- 
paper to advocate bi-nietalisin. In politics, 
it was Republican and stood where Congress- 
man McKinley, afterwards President, did at 
the time. One morning, a cartoon by Barrett 
contained a fac-simile of a silver dollar. I 
was familiar with the United States statute 
that forbids the reproduction of likenesses of 
money, but had assumed that such a law could 
only refer to paper money. I took the pre- 
caution, however, to erase a few of the stars 
and to remove pari of Columbia's hair. By 
noon of the day of publication, the United 
States Attorney for this District had served 
upon me a notice that my arrest would follow 
for an infraction of the statute. Here was the 
same sort of a chance for advertising the paper 
I had used so successfully in Paris! I sum- 



102 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



moned every caricaturisl in Gotham and en- 
gaged eaeh of them to make cartoons of the sil- 
ver dollar always slightly changing the face 
of the coin bu1 leaving it recognizable. We 
printed a cartoon every day for a month! One 
of Ver Beck's was a masterpiece: it represented 
the American eagle, surrounded by a group 
of eaglets, reading the Revised Statutes to 
the birdlets and cautioning them not to take 
any silver dollars made of paper. The case 
against me was laughed out of existence. 

Countless innovations for increasing circu- 
lation were tried. An interesting one, used 
after the circulation had passed the 1(1(1.00(1 
mark, was the addition to the presses of a 
mechanism that printed a number upon every 
paper issued. Next day. the publisher would 
offer $100 for the copy bearing a specified 
number. No promise of reward was made in 
advance, which took the scheme out of the 
lottery class. Attempts were made to stop 
this redemption of printed copies, but they 
were defeated in the courts. Later, small 
copies of famous paintings in color were 
issued as daily supplements. These were 
numbered with a chemical ink that prevented 
counterfeiting or alteration — which had been 
attempted where ordinary black printing ink 
was used. Large pictures were given away 
with the Sunday issues and many New York 
homes were beautified therewith. 

There was a spirit of philanthropy in that 
office such as I never encountered elsewhere. 
Everybody about the place strove to suggest 
methods for helping suffering humanity. 

We had on the staff, at the head of the wo- 
man's department. Miss Cynthia Westover. 
who hailed from Denver and was a splendid 
type of athletic womanhood. One afternoon 
she assembled fifteen of us and announced 
her plan to found an International Sunshine 
Society, having for its purpose the creation 
of a Home for Blind Babies. The splendid 
enterprise was started in a very modest man- 
ner, but it has to-day a contributing member- 
ship of 150,000 and has raised funds sufficient 
to build two large Homes. Miss Westover, 
now Mrs. John Alden, is at its head. Herein 
is an example of what may be accomplished 
in the cause of humanity by people who are 



not millionaires. Miss Julie Opp, now a 
theatrical star, was of the staff. 

A late despatch that came into the Re- 
corder office one night was from Jacksonville. 
Fla., stating that four small boys, children of 

| r parents, had been bitten by a rabid dog 

that afternoon and had been taken to a hos- 
pital "where they would be kept isolated until 
rabies did or did not develop." 

This appeared to be a horrible experiment! 
Without counting the cost, I "got on the win-" 
and sent messages to the Mayor of Jackson- 
ville, now United States Senator Duncan U. 
Fletcher, to the presidents and general man- 
agers of all railroads between New York and 
Florida, to the superintendent of the Jackson- 
ville hospital, directing that the four boys, 
accompanied by a nurse, be rushed here by 
the first train and I hat the Recorder would be 
responsible for all expenses. I awakened 
I)]-. Paul Gibier, of the Pasteur Institute, and 
had a talk with him over the 'phone, he agree- 
ing to take the little patients for $100 per week. 
The board of the nurse was to be extra. The 
cashier's office was closed and only by borrow- 
$5 and $10 from printers, editors and re- 
porters was I able to make up a purse of $100 
to bear the expense for Pullman fares and 
meals on the journey. This money was 
wired to the hospital superintendent. So 
prompt was the telegraphic service that by 
.'}::>() a.m., I received word that the children 
would leave Jacksonville at S o'clock that 
morning. 

The cooperation of the railroads was most 
generous, because the party was carried free 
(except in the sleeping ears). When met at 
Jersey City, one of the boys had manifested 
symptoms of rabies. All were taken in a 
carriage to the Pasteur Institute, and an in- 
jection of the serum was given to them before 
they were washed and put to bed. 

A brief announcement was made next morn- 
ing of the circumstances under which the 
children had been brought here. Obligations 
aggregating fully $600 had been incurred. I 
didn't ask for contributions, but knew- not 
how the money was to be raised. A mes- 
senger came from Morris K. Jesup with his 
check for $100 and an offer to defray the en- 
tire expense. He was a practical philan- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



163 



thropist; I was glad not to have to ask him 
for a second contribution. About $400 was 
received and my associates on the Recorder 
bore the rest of the expense, — George W. 
Turner. God love him! giving $.50. Every 
boy was sent home, cured.* 

About this time, William H. Hearst came to 
New York. Knowing of dissensions amone 
the stockholders of the Recorder, I was anxious 
that the young California editor should buy 
I lie Recorder. It was a two-cent newspaper 
of high class and would have furnished splen- 
did material upon which to build a progressive 
publication; but the stockholders advanced 
their price to such a 
the matter. 



height that 1 abandoned 



*A recent letter from Senator Fletcher explains itself: "United 
States Senate, Washington, D. C, April •.'.">, 1911. Dear Mr. Cham- 
bers: I remember quite well your philanthropy and splendid work in 
connection with the boys whom yon tookin charge and gave treat- 
ment at the Pasteur Institute of New York, while I was Mayor of 
Jacksonville. The doctor and boys returned home in fine health 
ami spirits. There is no doubl they were bitten by a rabid dog and, 
but for the treatment. I have no question, and never had, would have 
suffered the fate of those who became thus afflicted. Yours very 
truly, Duncan U. Fletcher." 



Air. Hearst asked me to join his staff when 
lie purchased the Morning Journal from 
John II. McLean and, feeling that the col- 
lapse of the Recorder, owing to internal troubles 
was assured, I accepted. An effort was 
required to part with Mr. Turner, one of 
the most lovable personalities 1 ever knew. 
Like a heroic commander. Turner stood by 
the ship to the last, sinking his entire for- 
tune and seeing many of his friends heavy 
losers. 

The demise of the Recorder, a year later, 
is one of the tragedies of metropolitan journal- 
ism. On the day of its suspension, it had a 
sale of 82,000 copies, at H cents each; its 
advertising patronage was excellent and its 
net profits were $1,000 to $1,500 per week. 
The owners who held a sufficient amount 
of stock to carry control would not sell 
and the minority holders could not save 
themselves from the crash. The paper was 
established; it needed only harmony to assure 
prosperity. 




Kit 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER XIX 



THE FIRST BRYAN CAMPAIGN 




)HEN the Winter of 1895 ap- 
proached, 1 was offered a choice 
of the London or Washington 
bureaus and chose tin* latter as 
the better field. The episode 
of chiefest importance at the 
Capital that Winter was Cleve- 
land's Venezuela Message, and 1 have told 
elsewhere how 1 obtained first news of the 
settlement with Premier Salisbury. Before 
Congress adjourned, the nomination of Mc- 
Kiniev by the Republicans was a foregone 
conclusion, but the wildest guessing could not 
name the Democratic presidential candidate. 
I had been at St. Louis immediately after tin- 
tornado, which tore a pathway through that 
city From Tower Hill Park to the southern 
water front, ami was not particularly rejoiced 
to return there in June to the- Convention. 
McKinley was nominated on the first ballot, 
much to the surprise of Speaker llrrd and 
other candidates. Xexl 1 went to the Chicago 
Convention in July and heard Mr. Bryan's 
"Crown of Thorns"' speech. Prior to the 
assembling of the convention. Boies and Bland 
appeared to he most talked about. Bryan 
was not mentioned until after his speech. 

Mi-. Brvan had been in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, hnt had not attracted attention. 
He appeared at Chicago at the head of a con- 
testing Nebraska delegation and. through the 
influence of Daniel of Virginia, his delegates 
were seated. lie was dressed in a Tuxedo 
jacket, with a low-cut dress vest and a shirt 
front that would have done honor to a dinner 
party. As the delegations were alphabetically 



arranged, according to states. Bryan's cohorts 
were seated in front of the New Yorkers, 
headed by Whitney. Passing over the tre- 
mendous furore created by Bryan's address, 
a word may he said about Senator Hill's lost 
opportunity. When Hill ascended the plat- 
form a great speech was expected. A dozen 
correspondents had spent an hour in his room 
at the Grand Pacific the preceding night try- 
ing to convince him that he could secure the 
nomination if he would reiterate his views 
on bi-metalism, expressed at Elmira, and. for 
the sake of harmony, advocate a ratio of '2(i 
to 1 instead of Bryan's 10 to 1. Julian Ralph 
had been chief spokesman and. we thought, 
had convinced Hill of the possibilities of 
success; but the Senator merely discussed 
the platform's criticism of the Supreme Court! 
His words did not call forth any enthusiasm. 
Sound money Democrats found themselves 
in a helpless and hopeless minority. Bland 
of Missouri father of the "Bland dollar" 
that only contained fifty-odd cents' worth of 
silver led until the third ballot, when the 
Nebraska orator wont to the front ami had 
an easy victory on the fifth ballot. 

1 accompanied the candidate to Lincoln 
and passed several days there, visiting Bryan 
several times daily. Thence 1 hurried to 
Canton to witness the arrival of the Thurston 
Committee, charged with officially notifying 
Major McKinley of his nomination. In Sep- 
tember I was called to New York to tem- 
porarily take S. S. Chamberlain's place as 
Managing Editor. His health had broken 
down and he had gone to Europe for rest. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



165 



Mr. Hearsl had declared for Bryan the only 
newspaper in New York thai did so. That 
course lia<l appeared dangerous, I ml his San 
Francisco Examiner had to supporl Bryanism 
and the young editor could not be a sound 
money man in New York and a Bryan silverite 
on the Pacific Coast. The move proved to 
he a wise one. It sent the circulation bound- 
ing upward. The McKinley campaign was 
treated with the same fulness as thai of Bryan. 
More than a page was daily given to each of 
the parties. Bryan was traveling by a special 
train, and one correspondent reported every 
speech he made. Equally capable men were 
attending the McKinley meetings, in all parts 
of the country, and fully reporting them. 
The circulation was growing at the rate of 
30,000 to 50,000 daily. Presses had been 
hired in three offices. One nighl the orders 
for Journals exceeded 1. ()()(). (ion copies! Mr. 
Hearst was the coolest man in the office that 
night. When 1 showed him the figures, he 
said: "Let's wait until we see if we can print 
and sell that many." Nearly eleven hundred 
thousand papers were sold next morning! I 
put the figures in "the ear" next day. Mr. 
Chamberlain returned a few days before elec- 
tion and I was hurried back to Canton, to be 
with the Republican candidate on the day 
of balloting. With the exception of brief 
intervals, I remained there until the President- 
elect came to Washington. It was a long 
three months. 

The fairness of the Journal, in giving both 
sides, created for that paper a new constitu- 
ency! Although Mr. Hearst continued to 
pour money into the property, it could have 
been made to pay its way. with economical 
management, after 1897; but Mr. Hearst went 
right along increasing the expenditures, in- 
stead of lowering them. His enormous re- 
sources enabled him to be fearless regarding 
cost. 




Hi iMI.K li \\ ENPI Ht T 



While in charge of the Washington bureau 
of the New York American during the Spring 
of 1896, a tall, ruddy-faced young man pre- 
sented himself, bearing 
a letter from William 
H. Hearst. It intro- 
duced Homer Daven- 
port. In eft'eel the let- 
ter said " I )avenpor1 is 
a cartoonist I have 
brought from the Pa- 
cific ('oast; introduce 
him to everybody, but 
impress upon him the 
necessity of si inlying 
men in public life be- 
fore he begins to cari- 
cature them." That 
visit of Homer Daven- 
port marked the begin- 
ning of a new era in newspaper lampooning. 
In a few months this previously unknown 
artist earned a national reputation! His 
first great hit was made with a cartoon of the 
late Thomas C. Plait, then United States 
Senator, selecting candidates for the various 
governmenl offices in his gift. It was labelled. 
"Enie, Menie, Minie, Moe." His next suc- 
cess was in cartooning Speaker Thomas B. 
Heed; but when the Presidential campaign 
opened and Mark Ilanna's active financial 
work for McKinley became apparent. Daven- 
port scored his chief triumph by picturing 
Ilanna in a suit of clothes covered with dollar 
marks. Since the time of Thomas Nast, no 
man has done so much to arouse popular 
feeling against political chicanery and the 
domination of predatory wealth! During a 
subsequent visit to Italy. Davenport saw the 
famous statue of Hercules at the Naples 
Museum and it suggested to him the figure 
.since employed to portray his idea of the 
Trusts a i>i<>'antic soulless creature without a 
neck! 

Mr. Davenport takes pleasure in referring to 
his birth (March. 1<S(!7) and early life on an 
Oregon farm. He had flic impulse to draw 
pictures from his earliest days. His father 
was an Indian agent at Pendleton, where the 
boy was constantly posing bucks and sipiaws 



166 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



as models for his pencil. His relatives did not 
entertain a high opinion of Homer's work, 
thinking that his time would have been better 
spent in hoeing cabbages than in drawing. 
His boyhood at Silverton was a long period of 
happiness; he drew thousands of pictures. His 
father was the only one who had full confidence 
in him. In 1892 he went to San Francisco and 
began work on the Examiner, and there tor 
the hist time he saw a man drawing with pen 
and ink. He was soon discharged for incom- 
petence, lie found another job on the ( Chron- 
icle but soon left and went to the Chicago 
Herald, where he remained during the summer 
of 1N!).'>. He then returned to 'Frisco and 
eventually secured a place on the Examiner, 
where he remained until his departure for New 
York. Mr. Davenport has written books, but 
the chief episode outside his professional career 
was a trip to the Syrian desert, far east of 
Aleppo, armed with a special irade from Sul- 
tan Abdul Ilamid, authorizing him to export 
a number of pure-blooded Arabian mares and 
stallions for his stud-farm at Holmdel, X. J. 
His book describing that journey is an ad- 
mirable bit of literary work. He is now doing 
a daily cartoon on the New York American 
and the standard of its execution is as high 
as ever. 

One of the cleverest men ever in Wall Street, 
as financial writer for a metropolitan newspa- 
per, is Collin Armstrong, who wrote the daily 
story of Wall Street for the Xew York Sun 
from 1878 to 1902. During most of that time, 
he was likewise financial editor of his paper, 
which under his direction became one of the 
important departments thereof. Mr. Arm- 
strong was born at Fayetteville. X. Y., June, 
IS.").'!. After preliminary study in his home 
town, he entered Amherst College and took 
the degree of A.B., in 1877. He was an en- 
thusiastic fraternity man, belonging to the 
Alpha Delta l'hi. During his college career, 
he dropped out for a year and came to New 



York to take a place as reporter on the Xew 
York World, where he served from March to 
June, 1S7(>. He then returned to Amherst 
and completed his course as above stated. 
A year after graduation he began work on the 
Sun and remained 14 years in a post considered 
one of the most responsible on a Xew York 
newspaper. In 1902 he retired from the Sun 
to engage in a general advertising business; 
ultimately he organized the Collin Armstrong 
Advertising ( lompany, of which he is president. 
He is popular, socially, and is a member of 
many clubs, among them the Lotos, Salma- 
gundi. Sphinx. Alpha Delta l'hi, of which he 
was vice-president for a time; Society of the 
Onondagas, of which he was president for a 
year, and of the Sun Alumni Association. He 
is also a member of the Rowfant Club, Cleve- 
land, O. 

The manufacture of paper used in United 
States Government notes is not only an in- 
dustry but a science and one. necessarily, that 

can only be given to 
trustworthy hands. The 
corporation of George 
La Monte & Son, of 
which George M. La 
Monte is president, not 
only performs this work 
for the United States 
lint for many foreign 
governments and for 
several of the largest 
financial institutions 
throughout the country. 
George La Monte was 
born at Danville, Va., 
in 1863. In 1884 he 
\\ a s graduated from 
Wesleyan University. 
He has been a manufacturer of safety papers 
for twenty-one years, and in addition to being 
president of George La Monte & Son is a 
director of the First National Hank, Hound 
Brook, and the Bank of Xutley. Nutley, N. J. 
He is a member of the American Historical 
Society, the Virginia Historical Society and 
the Xew .Jersey Historical Society and his clubs 
are the Metropolitan, City and Alpha Delta 
Phi. 




GEORGE M. LA Ml >NTE 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



167 



The advertising business has assumed such 
mammoth proportions in this country that 

the men who have been foremost in its de- 
velopment have attained fortunes therein. 
James Rascovar was born in Providence. 
R. I., but came with his parents to New York 
when a small boy. He was educated in the 
public schools and began work with the Wall 
Street News Bureau (1869), of which ex- 
Senator John J. Kiernan was president. 
Later, he formed a connection with Albert 




JAMES RASCOVAR 



Frank & Co., and was among the first to see 
the importance of supplying news to brokers, 
afternoon newspapers, hotels and clubs by a 
printing telegraph. This business developed 
enormously, and to-day Mr. Rascovar is 
president of the New York News Bureau 
which operates tickers in all the leading cities 
of the United States, recently housed in a 
large building of its own on Beaver Street. 
He is also president of Albert Frank & Co., 
and vice-president and director of the Ham- 
ilton Press. Mr. Rascovar is a devout be- 
liever in fraternal organizations, being a mem- 
ber of the Darcy lodge. F. & A. M., the Con- 
sistory of New York. 32d degree, Scottish Rite, 
and Olympic lodge. 1. (). (). F. His coopera- 




- I WLEY A. COHEN 



tion in many benevolent institutions has been 
notable, especially Mount Sinai Hospital, 
Montefiore Home, Lebanon Hospital, the 
University Settlement and B. P. O. Elks. 

Although playing cards are not mentioned 
by Petrarch. Bocaccio or Chaucer, there is 
evidence that their use in Europe began in 
the 12th century. Like 
nearly every good thing 
thai Western Europe 
possesses, cards came 
from the Fast. The 
Crusaders probably 
brought them. ( rames 
of cards were common 
in the 1.5th century, but 
although their form and 
faces were similar to 
those in use to-day, the 
pack did not contain a 
queen! The manufac- 
ture of playing cards in 
America dates back to 
the first quarter of the 

last century and the present representative of 
that business, which has grown to large pro- 
portions, is Stanley A. Cohen, the third genera- 
tion of his family who founded the enterprise 
in 1826. Mr. Cohen was born in this city, 
December, 1858, and finished his education at 
the Columbia Grammar School in 1S?(>. He 
immediately began work in the factory of the 
Xew York Consolidated Card Company, of 
which his father was then the head. He 
served an apprenticeship in every branch of 
card manufacture, his determination being to 
master and perpetuate the oldest business in 
this line in America! Mr. Cohen has risen 
step by step, until he is now president of the 
corporation, having agents in all parts of the 
world. Mr. Cohen has invented all the mod- 
ern methods and labor-saving machinery by 
which playing cards are now made. Louis I. 
Cohen, his grandfather, manufactured, in ISIS, 
the first lead pencils made in America, and. 
about the same time, introduced steel pens 
into this country. 



168 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




A New Yorker who comes out of the West is 
Bird S. Coler, who was born in Champaign, 
III.. but early left for the East, where he was 

educated at the Brook- 
lyn Polytechnic Insti- 
tute and Andover Aca- 
demy, Mass. His 
lather had become a 
New ^ ork banker and 
young Bird enjoyed ex- 
ceptionable facilities to 
lit himself for a com- 
mercial career. I form- 
ed his acquaintance 
du ring the winter of 
1895-'96 at a club din- 
ner. I was charmed 
with his frank, affable 
Hon. bird s. colee manner. The follow- 
ing summer we re- 
newed our friendship at the '"Bryan" Conven- 
tion, Chicago, where he was a delegate and I 
was a special correspondent. My most mem- 
orable meeting with Coler was at Grand Cen- 
tral Palace where the Democratic city con- 
vention was held, on the night of his nomina- 
tion thereat for the office of Comptroller of 
the city of New York. He was only "2!* years 
of age, but sure of himself. I found him 
sitting on a box in a room below the con- 
vention floor, entirely alone, waiting for the 
verdict. When I joyously congratulated 
him. he said: "This is a very serious business 
for me. but I know I can make good. I 
have looked the place over, and I am sure 
I can do the work." At mv request, Coler 
outlined in a column the policy he would 
follow if elected Comptroller —a statement 
so clear-cut. so free from usual promises 
that many of the other newspapers reprinted 
it the second day following. It became 
part of the campaign literature of the time. 
Bird Coler outlined the Hist clear plan for a 
strictly business administration of the office 
a system that his successors have followed, 
but that never had been practiced by his 
predecessors. The management of the city's 
accounts was placed on a strictly banking- 
house basis. lie was nominated for Governor 
of the State of Xew York in 1902, and polled 



an enormous vote, although defeated by his 
Republican opponent. Again Mr. Coler took 
charge of the Guardian Trust Company until 
January 1. 1906, when lie became President 
of the Borough of Brooklyn, and held the job 
four years. President Grout had been a 
personal friend as a fellow 1). K. E., Littleton 
I had come to admire as a good fellow, but 
President Coler, Littleton's successor, always 
maintained the delightful qualities of mind 
found only in hearts that do not grow old 
with years. 

Among the representative German-Ameri- 
cans of this city, Louis Windmuller has been 
one of the most active. He is a thorough 
American in every respect, although he was 
born in the old city of Munster and educated 
at the Gymnasium of that place. He came 
here when eighteen years of age, since which 
time his career has been one of continued 
success. To enumerate the financial insti- 
tutions which he has assisted in founding 
would crowd out more desirable mention of 
his unflagging work for political reform and 
social uplift. lie was one of the organizers 
of the Reform Club. An Independent in 
politics, he has voted according to his convic- 
tions, heading strong German movements in 
the metropolis first for Cleveland and then for 
Mckinley. He has been a constant writer 
for magazines and newspapers, producing 
copy with equal facility in German and 
English. On occasions of financial crisis, 
especially when American credit was assailed 
in Europe, Mr. Windmuller has been prompt 
to send letters to the principal newspapers of 
Germany, explaining our financial situation. 
His diversions have been confined to the col- 
lection of rare books and pictures; his library 
contains several early books of Gutenberg, 
Caxton and other famous presses. He has 
been an ardent supporter of the various mu- 
seums and historical associations and was 
especially proud of his membership in the 
Chamber of Commerce. He is devoted to 
country life and his home at Woodside, 
Queens Borough, is one of the most attractive 
in that charming community. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



109 




Col. \VM. D. MANN 



A fellow "Buckeye" whom the metropolis 
finally claimed, after a sturdy life of activities 
in this country and Europe, is Colonel William 

D'Alton Mann, soldier, 
civil engineer, inventor 
and editor. Years rest 
very lightly upon him, 
for I see him in ( Central 
Park or on Riverside 
a-horse back every fair 
morning, in all seasons. 
Col. Mann was born at 
Sandusky City, Ohio. 
September, 1839, and 
was educated as a civil 
engineer; hut when the 
( 'ivil War came he was 
21 years of age and 
went to the front as 
captai n in the 1st 
Michigan ("aval r v . 
Called home by the Governor of Michigan, 
he organized and commanded the 7th Michi- 
gan Cavalry and was at its head in many 
engagements. I lis mind was always active in 
attempts to improve the comforts and sani- 
tary condition of the men in the field and 
several valuable improvements of the accoutre- 
ments were made by Col. Mann. 

When the war had ended, lie was one of the 
first to attempt to prove to the Southern people 
that all northern bitterness was buried. He 
invested every dollar he possessed in Mobile. 
Ala., in a cotton-seed oil mill, giving employ- 
ment to white and black labor. lie induced 
northern capitalists to assist him in the pro- 
motion of railroad building in Alabama. He 
purchased the Mobile Register and edited it 
for several years, in addition to caring for his 
commercial interests. In ISO"}), Col. Mann 
was elected to Congress by an overwhelming 
majority, but the Reconstruction Judges re- 
fused to certify him, on account of openly 
avowed sympathy he had for the Southern 
people under the outrageous conditions im- 
posed upon them by "carpet-bag" officials. 
He was not of their class; he had gone South 
expecting to pass the rest of his life there! In 
lST^ he patented the boudoir car that bore 
his name for many years in all parts of the 
world: lie spent the ten years following in 




EGBERT C. FULLER 



Europe, introducing it there. Returning in 
1883, lie purchased "Town Topics" and has 

since conducted it as editor and publisher. 
In many respects it contains the best English 
01 any newspaper in America. 

"From machine shop helper at the age of 
1(> to president of a large manufactory employ- 
ing several hundred men," summarizes the 

career of Egberl ( !hap- 
lain Fuller, born in Ux- 
bridge, Mass.. 1852. 
Realizing that success 
in life meant for him a 
fight, he responded to 
a natural inclination to- 
ward mechanics, began 
at the bottom and end- 
ed by becoming an ex- 
pert machinist. He 
first turned his atten- 
tion to the development 
and improvement of 
bookbinders' machin- 
ery, lie formed a part- 
nership in New York, 
Montague & Fuller, to 
represent several large manufacturers of that 
class of machinery, but in 1904 Mr. Fuller 
bought out his associate and continued the 
business under the name of E. C. Fuller & 
Co. A large factory in Connecticut was pur- 
chased and enlarged, at which Mr. Fuller 
builds modern printing machinery. He is 
president of the Economic Machine Co. He 
owns a charming home at Pine Orchard,* !onn., 
where he and his family spend most of the 
year. 

What a pity New York couldn't have more 
Comptrollers with practical business training! 
In speaking of the reforms effected in Phila- 
delphia under Comptroller Pattison, I showed 
how the righl official in such a place could 
save to the city much money and much of its 
self-respect. We have had some excellent 
men in this office, since the creation of Great- 
er New York. My personal friendship for 
Mr. Coler does not blind me to the earnest. 
conscientious and capable administration of 
the ComptroIIership by Herman A. Metz. 
He showed himself to be a man of courage, 
political independence and staunch fidelity 



l?(l 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



to duty. I have known every Comptroller 
since the halcyon days of "graft" under the 
Tweed regime, l>;nl and good alike, and I 
have no hesitation in ranking Mr. Metz very 
high among our faithful public servants. Be- 
fore lie entered upon his duties as an official. 
he had demonstrated his capacity as a business 
man by amassing a fortune in the chemical 
field. 

The career of Franklin Murphy began in 
July, ISO 1 ', when at the age of 16 years he left 
the Newark Academy to enlist in the Thir- 
teenth Regiment, X. J. V. He was born in 
Jersey City, January, 1846; but when ten 
years old his family removed to Newark. In 
the Federal service, partly in the Army of the 
Potomac and partly in the West under (Jen. 
Sherman, he remained until the close of the 
war, when he was mustered out with the rank 
of first lieutenant. lie had been at Antietam, 
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and had 
marched with Sherman "from Atlanta to the 
sea." Returning to Newark, in 1865, he 
founded the firm of Murphy & Co.. varnish 
manufacturers. He was two years short of 
his majority, hut the enterprise was a success 
from tht' first. From small beginnings the 
business has grown to one of the largest of its 
kind '"Murphy Varnishes" being known the 
world over. A corporation was formed in 
L891, The Murphy Varnish Company, of 
which Mr. Murphy is the president. One of 
Mr. Murphy's elements of success has been 
the keen interest he lias felt and displayed for 
the welfare of his workmen and of labor in gen- 
eral. For many years he has been a sturdy 
advocate of high wages for faithful services; 
he has constantly striven to lift American in- 
dustrialism to a lofty plane. 

Honors have come plentifully to Mr. Mur- 
phy, in recognition of his unselfish and public- 
spirited course. He was, early in life, a mem- 
ber of the Common Council in Newark; his 
neighbors sent him to the Legislature of New 
Jersey, and. as Park Commissioner, he laid 
out and completed the parks of Essex County. 
For many years he was Chairman of the Re- 
publican State Committee; President M( Kin- 



ley made him a Commissioner to the Paris 
Universal Exposition of 1!)(>(), and in l!)()f 
he was elected Governor of New Jersey, for 
a term of two years. He has served as a 
member of the National Republican Com- 
mittee since f !)()(). Mr. Murphy comes of 
Colonial stock and is a member of the Sons of 
the American Revolution — President-General 
in IS!)!) — , the Society of Colonial Wars and 
the Society of the Cincinnati, the Loyal Legion, 
the L T nion, the Union League, Century, Re- 
publican clubs of New York. 

(i illicit Collins, descendant of a Revolu- 
tionary family, was born in Stonington, Conn., 
August, 1846. He was privately educated 
and was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 
1869. His success in his chosen profession 
has been noteworthy. He was appointed 
Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey 
in 1897 and served until 1903, in which year 
he resigned. Judge Collins had previously 
distinguished himself during a term as Mayor 
of Jersey City, which post he occupied 1884 
to 1886. Judge Collins' great-grandfather 
was a first lieutenant of the First Connecticut 
Line Regiment during the Revolutionary War. 
The grandson is therefore a member of the 
Sons of the Revolution and of a number of 
local clubs and societies in Jersey City and a 
strong Republican. Judge Collins is a part- 
ner in the firm of Collins & Corbin. His 
reputation for business judgment renders him 
of great value as director in several banks 
and trust companies. 

An authority on white paper, both as to 
quality and economical methods of manu- 
facture, is George F. Perkins, a retired manu- 
facturer who is frequently appealed to for 
information and advice by committees in- 
quiring into the duty upon wood pulp and the 
most modern methods of paper making. Mr. 
Perkins was horn at Andover. Conn., in lcS,'5.5, 
entered the public school at Lee. Mass.. and 
took an academic course at the Charlotteville 
Seminary of New York State; he served an 
apprenticeship with a company building paper- 
ma kino- machinery and at the completion of 
his term worked for two years as a journey- 



THE BOOK of NEW VOKK 



171 



GEl IRGE 1'. PEB KIN'S 



i i: w ki.in mii; rn -i 




The Late JOHN F. M:\ D] N 



GILBERT COLLINS 

Four Representative Citizens of Our Neighboring State, New Jersey 



17-2 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



man. By private study he qualified himself 
as ;ni expert accountanl and for two years 
followed thai profession. 1 le responded to 
the call of the metropolis in 1858 a! the age 
of twenty-three and returned to the paper 
business in the commercial end. About 1865 
he and some fellow -u orkers organized the 
firm of Bucanan. Perkins & Goodwin, from 
which partnership Mr. Bucanan retired in a 
few years and the business was continued 
under the firm name of Perkins & Goodwin. 
After an active life, the subjecl of this sketch 
finally retired from active business in L905, 
although he retained his connection with a 
number of banks and trust companies, lie 
is Vice-President of the Title, Guarantee & 
Trust Company, President of the Provident 
Institution for Savings, a Director in the 
Pavonia Trust Company and in the Colonial 
Life Insurance Company of Jersey City. Mr. 
Perkins has never had any political ambition. 
I>ut has Keen affiliated with the Republican 
party throughout his life; he has declined 
many public offices, preferring to devote his 
life to business rather than politics, lie was 
induced to accept an appointment on the 
Board of Finance, hut he declined to till a 
second term. Socially. Mr. Perkins is fond 
of club life and belongs to the I nion League 
clubs of Jersey City, the Merchants and 
Carteret, lie is especially proud of his mem- 
bership in the New York Chamber of Com- 
merce. He is fond of hooks and is a patron 
of art and music. 



world ot 
Edward 



Occupying an eminent place in the civic 
the Slate of New Jersey, .lames 
'ope stands in a position of corre- 
sponding importance in 
the business world of 
New York. President 

of the P o p e Metals 
Company and of the 
University of the State 
of New Jersey, Mr. 
Pope must devote a 
large p a r I of what 
would otherwise be his 
leisure to the interests 
of Jersey City and of 
the State of New Jersey 
as a member of various 
ci\ ic commissions. He 
w as horn in the city of 
New ^ ork of English 
descent on both sides, tracing on the maternal 
side directly from Dr. George Buxton, physi- 
cian to George Washington. He was gradu- 
ated in 1882 from the Sheffield Scientific 
School of Yale, being a member of the Ber- 
zelius Society and of the Yale University (dub 
of New Haven. He is also a member of the 
Meridian and Drug and Chemical Clubs of 
New York and of the Hudson County Historic- 
al Society of Jersey City, the American Civic 
Association, and the National Municipal 
Leasue. 




1 \\l I 3 EDW \Kli POPE 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



n:; 



CHAPTER XX 



TWO PALACES l'Oli BOOKS AND ART 




HE new Public Library is 

housed in a $12,000,000 marble 
building, a perfect specimen of 

the (J reck order; its architects 
were Carrere cS; Hastings. It 
is a palace with a million 
books! The beautiful struc- 
ture was largely built with the money left by 
the late Samuel J. Tilden, although the city 
added about $5,000,000 thereto before com- 
pletion. The books and pictures with which 
the interior is equipped and embellished come 
from the Astor and Lenox libraries. Shelf- 
room is provided for 2,700,000 volumes, with- 
out crowding. Even more wonderful than 
the exterior is the interior of the vast library, 
with its eighty miles of shelving, represented 
by 68,(1(10 shelves. These provide accommo- 
dations for 3.500,00(1 books as the ultimate 
limit. About "2,700,000 of the books, when the 
extreme limit is reached, will be housed in the 
main stack room, with about 800,000 dis- 
tributed through the other departments. The 
main stack room takes three hundred feet 
along the Bryant Park side of the building and 
seventy-eight feet on the Fortieth and Forty- 
second street ends. It contains seven Moors. 
All shelves, corrugated to supply ventila- 
tion, are adjustable and may be changed to 
fit books of any height. Not only are the ends 
of the stack shelves open for ventilation but 
in the corridors between the stacks the floor- 
ing on either side is left open so that there may 
be no chance for the accumulation of dust and 
that there will be an uninterrupted circulation 
of air. The artificial lighting is done by 
electric bulbs set overhead between the stacks. 
A button placed at the end of the stack will 
when pressed light three double rows at once. 
There are .'50.000 electric lights in the building. 

For the convenience of the attendant the 
stacks are divided into geographical sections 
and marked at the end N. W., X. E., S. E., 



S. W., and in addition a bronze tablet denotes 
the alphabetical order and the subjects rep- 
resented in each stack. 

The prompt despatch of books from the 
stack room to the main reading room is 
achieved by a system of lifts, four in the center, 
largely used during the day. and two at the 
end for returning books at night. Pneumatic 
tubes are used in connection with the lifts 
by which slips are sent from the main reading 
room to the attendants. An order is filled 
and the books returned by the lifts, operated 
by automatic electric attachments. 

The main reading room is on the top floor 
and is identical in size with the stack room. 
Here is a collection of some 25.000 volumes 
arranged on shelves. These are free-to-hand 
books to be used by patrons of the library. 

In the catalogue room which adjoins the 
main reading room are 6,600 card index draw- 
ers, in front of which tables are placed upon 
which to rest the boxes during a reader's 
search for his subject. An information desk 
in the center of the room has the pneumatic 
tubes close at hand. Into this the slips for 
books are handed for their destination in the 
main reading room and from there despatched 
to that part of the stack room where the 
books are kept. By placing your scat number 
on the slip books will be delivered by mes- 
sengers directly to you. or if the reader de- 
sires to wander about until the book arrives he 
receives a number which appears on an illu- 
minated indicator on the wall of the reading 
room as soon as the order is filled. 

In addition to the main reading rooms, there 
are special rooms fitted up for students doing 
research work along special lines. Particu- 
larly valuable are the little rooms, where an 
individual studying some particular subject 
may. with his books and papers around him, 
work undisturbed for days. 



174 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



There is a periodical room on the first floor 
on the Fifth avenue and Fortieth street side, 
where are between 5,000 and 6,000 different 
periodicals, mostly domestic. One interest- 
ing room is that containing the Stuart collec- 
tion, a part of the Lenox Library collection, 
which owing to the restrictions of the deeds of 
gift must he kept intact. It includes a col- 
lection of paintings, rare editions of hooks and 
prints and curios. The room will he closed 
to the public on Sunday, another stipulation 
of the donor. To provide an effective back- 
ground for the pictures the walls have been 
covered with green silk burlap. Low book- 
cases with ventilated screened doors have been 
placed about the room for the books, while 
the paintings and prints are hung on the 
walls by a new method, the hooks being fas- 
tened in a narrow steel groove or channel 
which divides the wall about a third of the 
way down from the ceiling. 

Under the dome of the north court on the 
first floor is the circulation department, acces- 
sible by an entrance on the Forty-second 
street side, so that it will not be necessary for 
patrons to pass through the main part of the 
building to reach it. At the left as one enters 
is the application desk, and directly opposite 
another bearing city, street, telephone and 
business directories. This convenience is sup- 
plemented by twelve telephone booths. 

A newspaper room on the north side of the 
basement floor is fitted around the four sides 
with stacks for the back tiles of papers, while 
on tables in front of the windows will be 
racks with current issues. 

The children's department is a long, low 
room on the Forty-second street side. Every- 
thing in the room is in proportion to the size 
of its clients. For example, the shelves are 
just high enough so that the average child 

may reach 1 ks at the top easily. The 

chandeliers are hung low and each window- 
is an alcove with low tables and built-in 
benches that will accommodate six youngsters 
at a time. 

In 1817 Robert Lenox bought thirty acres 
of land in what was the Ninth Ward. The 
tract was traversed by "the middle road," 
which is now Fifth Avenue, and the neighbor- 
hood was known as "Five-Mile Stone." In 



is:!!) he made a will containing this devise: 
'To my only son. James Lenox, my farm at 
Five-Mile Stone for and during the term of 
his life, and after his death to his heirs forever. 
My motive for so leaving this property is a 
firm persuasion that it may at no distant day 
be the site of a village: and as it cost me much 
more than its present worth, from circum- 
stances known to my family, I like to cherish 
the belief it may be realized to them. At all 
events I want the experiment made by keeping 
the property from being sold.'* A codicil 
changed the stipulation of never selling the 
land into advice, and until 1N(>4 the advice 
was followed. Since then much of the prop- 
erty has been sold. Tweed, Sweeny and Con- 
nolly being among the purchasers of lots. 
One whole block was given to the Presbyte- 
rian Hospital, the ground and cash contributed 
by James Lenox being equal to $800,000, and 
ten lots on Fifth Avenue to the Lenox Library. 

At present, American art leads the world! 

Success in painting or sculpture must be due 
to egotism —the same is true of all great 
successes. Naturally, know ledge of technique is 
necessary. And yet that is not so important 
as sublime confidence in one's self; for. if one 
has that, the technique will be acquired. 
Nobody is literally "self-made." He must 
learn from some other mind, by instruction or 
observation. But, no matter how great the 
capabilities of an artist, he never will rise to 
the top unless he have supreme confidence 
in his imagination and in his capacity to exe- 
cute. Curious that the requisite for success 
in art is the one thing that will destroy the 
efficiency of a man in commercial life! 

Success in painting conies only after the 
closest communion with Nature. Ibsen ap- 
plied flic same rule to the drama, and dem- 
onstrated that a man without the slightest 
knowledge of construction, and with an in- 
difference to plot almost contemptuous, can 
write plays that portray life as it is. He enun- 
ciated a great truth when he said that every 
family holds an acting drama in its clutches. 
Ibsen had only to lift the roof of a house to 
find a tragedy or a comedy. 

French art has run its course for a genera- 
lion or two. Every revival of art has been 
contemporaneous with some political or com- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



17.5 



mercial activity in the country where il has 
occurred. Modern art, as we understand it. 
sprang into existence in Italy about the middle 
of the 15th century. Bellini, who was Titian's 
instructor, was horn in 1427 and Leonardo da 
Vinci in 1452; but Michelangelo, Titian and 
Raphael were all horn within a few years of 
one another. Those five names are immortal. 
They are called a "school." hut there wasn't 
any special intimacy between the men. Venice 
and Genoa were then the greatest ports on the 
Mediterranean. Titian lived to !)!) and then 
died of the plague at Venice. Michelangelo 
lived 89 years. There was a hundred years art 
supremacy for Italy, unquestioned and indis- 
putable! Then the ait center moved to 
Spain, and the so-called school of Seville pro- 
duced Velasquez and Murillo. The former 
was only 19 years the predecessor of the latter. 
Then the angel of painting hovered over Hol- 
land and we have Rubens and Rembrandt. 
These four wonderful men were almost con- 
temporaries — indeed, all were alive at the 
same time. The Flemish school endured until 
tin' later years of the 17th century, when the 
art microbe crossed the channel to London. 
The English school reached its highest excel- 
lence in Reynolds. Gainsborough anil Turner. 
Sir Joshua was just as much responsible for 
Turner, a poor barber's son. as was Bellini 
for Titian — and no more. Turner would 
assuredly have been appreciated by this time 
if Ruskin hadn't "discovered" him. The 
English painters continued to produce good 
work until after the fall of Napoleon. Hut 
Napoleon's vandalism in gathering together 
in the Louvre the art treasures of Europe 
created the so-called modern French school. 
It is called "modern" to distinguish it from 
the dainty hut not great work of Claude 
Loraine, Watteau and Greuze that had pre- 
ceded it. Several art centers formed. The 
most important was at Barbizon, a small 
village near the forest of Fontainebleau. 
Theodore Rousseau was its founder, and he 
gathered 'round him Corot, Dupre, Daubigny 
and Diaz. The colony spread to the adjacent 
villages of Chailly and Marlotte. Later fol- 
lowed Trovon, Francois Millet. Courbet, Fleu- 
ry, Veron, Fleurs and Riou. These were 
nearly all landscape painters; next came the 
figure painters. Paris teemed with good and 



indifferent work. Meissonier led that field: 
Gerome a poor second. With the "Frou- 
Erou" artists, like Boldini, line art has little 
patience 

The American school is unqualifiedly the 
best in the world at this time. How long this 
preeminence will remain is a hazard to guess; 
l>ul there has been a group of landscape paint- 
ers, the ranks of which are depleted by the 
deaths of George Inness, Winslow Homer, 
Julian Rix and others, who have established 
American art on a plane from which it is not 
likely to be dethroned for a generation. This 
is ascribable to the splendid prosperity of the 
United States since the Civil War. The 
grandeur of Venice and ( renoa was responsible 
for the painters that gave to Italy her glorious 
place in art. not the cultivated tastes of the 
Popes or the Medicis. Wealth is the patron of 
art! Without wealth, art is unappreciated. 
Men like Yerkes, Carnegie, Clark and Widen- 
er, who have little of the artistic sense them- 
selves, are the real promoters of art! It 
sounds sordid to an abasement to say so, but 
it has always been true and ever will continue 
to be. 

What a wondershop is the Metropolitan 
Museum of Art! The Egyptian mummies 
and grave-trinkets, .5,000 years old; the Etrus- 
can pottery; the Cypriot collection; the statu- 
ary, in modern originals and plaster replica 
of the best days of Greece and Rome; the 
tapestries and gossamer laces of France and 
the Low Countries; the silver work of the old 
guilds of Florence. Venice and London, and 
so on to the end of the catalogue. Truly a 
wonderful place, that few appreciate at its 
true worth. 

The splendid architectural development of 
the new metropolis, which began about hSS.5. 
is due entirely to the race of superior archi- 
tects that developed in this city. The move- 
ment was led by Mckiin. Mead & White, 
some years before that time, and from their 
office, as a training school, emerged manv of 
these successful men. Among them must he 
mentioned the late John Merven Carrere, 
born in Rio de Janeiro, 1858, who came to 
New York when three years old. was sent 
abroad when a young man lor a long course 
of studv in Switzerland and Paris, graduating 



176 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



;it the Ecole des Beaux Arts —a pupil of Leon 
Ginain and Victor Ruprich Robert. About 
the same time, another young man, Thomas 
Hastings, son of the ex-president of the Union 
Theological Seminary, born in New York, 
lN(;o. was a student at the Ecole des Beaux 
Arts. Paris. He returned home to form 
a partnership with Mr. Carrere, in 188.5. 
He had had the benefit of ten years' study at 
the Ecole des Beaux Arts and had been a com- 
panion of Mr. Carrere in the office of McKim, 
Mead & White. These two young architects 
were thoroughly aglow with enthusiasm for 
their profession, aroused by much travel and 
personal inspection of the chief architectural 
wonders of the Continent. 

When I come to speak of the work of these 
two men and what they have done for the 
advancement of architecture in the United 
States. I am at a loss where to begin. The 
one feature that gave initial velocity to the 
development of Florida as a popular Winter 
resort for American and even European 
visitors was the creation of the wonderful hotel 
system starting at St. Augustine and stretching 
down the coast as far as Miami. Chiefest of 
these great structures was the Ponce de Leon 
Hotel, at St. Augustine. Its plans are on 
the Moorish order and every effect of apparent 
lightness, grace and coloring, for which Arabic 
art is famous, was employed by these archi- 
tects. New Yorkers forever feel a sense of 
gratitude to Carrere & Hastings for their de- 
sign of the New York Public Library on Fifth 
Avenue, which combines external beauty with 
perfect interior equipment for the handling 
of several million volumes. The approaches 
to Manhattan Bridge across Fast River are 
their handiwork. Visitors to Ithaca. New 
York, cannot fail to admire the immense but 
graceful Goldwin Smith Hall, on the eastern 
side of the Campus, facing the original build- 
ings of Cornell University, and bearing the 
charming title "College of the Humanities." 
The larger and less ornate Rockefeller Hall 
at Cornell University, built for purposes of 
scientific research rather than for the study of 
arts and letters, was also designed by them. 
The State of New York and the city of Buffalo 
were placed under lasting obligations by these 
architects, whose designs for the setting of 



the Pan-American Exposition were the marvel 
of this country and Europe. Memorial Hall 
at Yale University, a structure of much beauty, 
rose under their hands. The Lafayette Monu- 
ment, in Paris, and numberless important 
buildings throughout this republic, together 
with scores of residences, might be added to 
their record. Mr. Carrere was injured in an 
automobile accident in the Spring of 1911, 
and died after several days of suffering. 

The next time the reader of this page passes 
St. Paul's Chapel he should stop and study 
the architectural effect of the National Park 
Bank building, a comparatively low building 
surrounded by skyscrapers, and realize the 
difficult problem with which its architect, 
Donn Harbei-. had to grapple. It is a pleasure 
to talk of a comparatively young man who 
has accomplished much for himself and at the 
same time been a constant inspiration and 
"booster" of younger artisans in his own pro- 
fession. The Atelier Donn Barber, on Fast 
Forty-second street, is one of the most inter- 
esting places in the metropolis, solely from the 
viewpoint of achievements, for the benefit of 
young architects. 

Mr. Barber was born in Washington. I). C, 
in October. 1871, of New England and Revo- 
lutionary stock, although his father had been 
previously a resident of New York for many 
years. Having prepared at Holbrook Mili- 
tary Academy, Briarcliff. N. Y.. young Barber 
entered Yale and was graduated Ph.B. in 
IN!).'). He then spent a year at Columbia in 
special architectural study, and in 1895 en- 
tered L'Fcole des Beaux Arts, Paris. The 
diploma he received from that institution in 
1898 was the ninth awarded to an American 
student in architecture. He won nine medals 
from the French government. After a tour 
of study among the architectural wonders of 
the European cities. Mr. Barber returned to 
New York to enter the office of Lord & Hew- 
lett, architects; he completed a thorough 
apprenticeship there and with Cass Gilbert 
and Carrere & Hastings. In 1 !)()() he opened 
an office of his own. 

What Donn Barber has accomplished in 
ten years stamps him as a fine example of the 
strenuous life. I shall not undertake to men- 
tion all the notable and characteristic edifices 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



117 



THOMAS HASTINGS 



Hi. Late JOHN M. CARRERE 




GEORGE W. KH WII I: 



DONN BAHltl :i: 



178 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



he has designed, but the National Park Bank 
structure has already been cited. It is a 
truly interesting example of this architect's 
ingenuity in dealing with a difficult situation. 
lis exterior i> so admirably composed that it 
does not look stunted by the tall Colonial 
Trust building adjoining standing on the 
former site of the New York Herald building. 
The interior is a most sumptuous renaissance 
banking room composition. The Connecti- 
cut Slate Library, the Supreme Court building, 
tlu* new homes of the Travelers' Insurance 
Company and of the Hartford National 
Bank, all at Hartford, are equally worthy of 
individual description. The new Lotos Club 
structure, in West Fifty-seventh street, is 
characterized as the most decorative use of 
brickwork to be seen in this country. In- 
teriorly, it is a delight to the eves. In the 
government competition lately held for the 
three department buildings in Washington, 
Mr. Barber won the Department of Justice 
building from twenty architects, representing 
the cream of the architectural world in Amer- 
ica. His success in this the most important 
competition that has ever been offered in 
this country places him indisputably in the 
very first rank. The Chattanooga Union 
Railroad station, the new house of the Capital 
City Club. Atlanta; the White Plains Hospital, 
and the splendid country mansions of W. B. 
Dinsmore, at Tuxedo; of E. C. Converse, at 
Greenwich; the model farm of Richard Dela- 
field; the Institute of Musical Art of the City 
of \ew York, show the diversity of Mr. Bar- 
ber's genius. 

The one thing that appeals to me is the 
practical creation of an Ecole Barber, at the 
Barber atelier, where students of architecture 
go to have their work criticized, [f encourage- 
ment be justified, students are advised to 
take a full course at the Beaux Arts. Pa lis. 
Fourteen students from the Atelier Barber 
are studying in the French capital. Mr. 
Barber has written and lectured on architec- 
ture. He is editor of the New York Architect 
and is a member of societies and clubs almost 
without number. 

When an architect specializes in a particular 
class of designing and is sufficiently successful 
to maintain his supremacy in the building of 



churches and other religious edifices for forty- 
odd years, he is sure to become a man of dis- 
tinction in his profession. George Washington 
Kramer did not heed the call of the city until 
189 t. when he was forty-seven years of age. He 
came from Ashland, Ohio, originally, but he had 
chiefly distinguished himself as the founder 
and head of a large architectural firm at 
Akron, where his designs for Sunday school 
buildings received the name of "The Akron 
Plan." Mi'. Kramer was born to the build- 
ing business because his father was a builder 
before him. At Akron, his association with 
Jacob Snyder & Co., engaged in designing 
and building churches in all parts of the 
Middle West, permanently deflected his mind 
to that branch of work. This led to the 
origination of the modern type of church plan 
as adapted to the non-ritual or evangelical 
churches, now known throughout Christen- 
dom as the Akron System. The popularity 
of the Kramer plans compelled him to dis- 
continue all other branches of architecture 
and make this his exclusive specialty. Prior 
to becoming a church builder. Mr. Kramer 
had designed college buildings, school and 
court houses, and numberless public institu- 
tions. Especially do I remember him as the 
architect of the reconstruction of Oberlin Col- 
lege, where he transformed an archaic and 
dingy collection of buildings into modern form, 
giving to the aged institution its campus and 
quadrangles. He was also employed to de- 
sign the first building of the Ohio Agricul- 
tural College, and the great Dueber-IIampden 
watch ami case factory at Canton, O. Mr. 
Kramer was one of the founders of the Western 
Association of Architects, which was subse- 
quently merged into the American Institute. 
I must nol forget to mention that Mr. Kramer 
invented a complete system of prison locks 
by which all cells in the same sections of such 
institutions are simultaneously closed, and 
which is now generally used throughout the 
country. He originated the Fan Furnace 
System of heating and ventilating so extensive- 
ly used in climates too cold for steam, and on 
this account was elected honorary member of 
the National Association of Heating and Yen- 
tilatmg Engineers. According to Mr. Kra- 
mer's opinion, one great fault with our Ameri- 



THE HOOK of NEW VORK 



179 



FRANCIS II MMUAI.I. 



I II \.~ I' II I I I I r.l i. 1 




JOSEPH 11DWI.AM) HUNT 



RICH \i;n II' i\\ I \M> HUNT 



180 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



• •an buildings is the habit of building for to- 
day, expecting to remodel or tear down and 
build larger to-morrow; in consequence, the 
question of durability in selecting materials 
doesn't receive sufficient attention. He has 
argued from the outset that it costs very little 
more to build for a century than for a genera- 
tion; the extra outlay is economy. Mr. 
Kramer originated the now popular type of 
diagonal or pulpit-in-the-corner church, and 
over three-quarters of all modern non-liturgi- 
cal churches in the United Stales are based on 
some form of the Kramer plan. lie has 
planned and designed over 2,000 churches for 
different denominations in all parts of the 
world, costing from $.'5,000 to $300,000, and 
has justly earned the title of 'The Church 
Architect." It is said of him that he has de- 
signed "forty miles of churches." 

New York originally stood upon an island 
of rocky hills and intervening marshes and. 
when the rock lav far below the surface, the 
problem of finding secure foundations for large 
buildings was a great one. In some instances 
contractors had to go down nearly a hundred 
feet to secure proper bottom. Francis II. 
Kimball was the originator of the caisson 
system in foundation construction, now uni- 
versally adopted. The use of this system 
has made possible tin' rearing of structures of 
great height, that fifteen years ago would have 
been a defiance of natural laws. This is Mr. 
Kimball's chief pride, although his achieve- 
ments in architecture are eminently note- 
worthy, lie was born at Kennebunk, Maine, 
1845, and he learned the building trade from 
practical beginnings. Later, he served with 
Louis P. Rogers of Boston. When Mr. Kim- 
ball was commissioned supervising architect 
of the new buildings of Trinity College, Hart- 
ford, he went to London and studied in the 
atelier of William Burgess, a master of the 
French Gothic school. Since the completion 
of tin' beautiful buildings at the Connecticut 
capital. Mr. Kimball has been the authority 
on this style of architecture in America. The 
Casino (of Moorish type), the Garrick and 
Fifth Avenue theatres in this city were de- 
signed by him. Kimball & Thompson were 
the architects of the Manhattan Life building. 



on lower Broadway, in the rearing of which the 
caisson system was first utilized. 

Another man who has helped, architectur- 
ally, to enrich and beautify Greater New York 
is Charles Pierrepont II. Gilbert, born in 
the metropolis, 1863. From earliest boyhood, 
he set out to be a civil engineer and architect. 
His whole life has been devoted to the study 
of painting, sculpture and the hue arts, 
backed by a thorough special training in civil 
engineering and architecture. Mr. Gilbert 
always has practiced on his own account; 
has designed many important hotels, bank 
buildings, churches, railroad stations, office 
buildings and private residences. lie is a 
Fellow of the American Institute of Archi- 
tects, a member of the Architectural League, 
the Fine Ails Society, the Municipal Arts 
Society, the Society of Colonial Wars. Sons 
of the Revolution, the Society of the War 
of 1SW. the New England Society and the 
Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Gilbert is a 
charter member of Squadron A., X. G. S. 
N. Y. He belongs to the Metropolitan, 
Union League, Riding, Racquet, Lawyers' 
clubs, Sleepv Hollow Country Club and Xew 
York Golf Club. 

Architects are born not made; often they 
inherit the art of designing from their fathers. 
This is especially the case with Richard How- 
land Hunt, whose father was one of the most 
distinguished members of his profession in 
this country. Mr. Hunt was born at Paris. 
France, in 1862; he was educated at the In- 
stitute of Technology and finished his studies 
at L'Ecole des Reaux Aits. From a small 
sketch left by his father, Richard Morris 
Hunt, he completed the new wing for the Met- 
ropolitan Museum of Art, the facade of which 
is one of the architectural beauties of this city. 
Among the countless structures that Mr. 
Hunt has designed may be mentioned Quin- 
tard Hall and Hoffman Hall at Sewanee 
University: Kissam Hall at Vanderbilt Uni- 
versity; Schmid House; "Idle Hour," for 
W. K. Vanderbilt's Long Island estate, and 
the Schieffelin town house. He is a member 
of all the scientific associations allied to archi- 
tecture and of the Players and Century clubs. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



181 



Another member of 1 1 1 * - Hunt family who 
has distinguished himself in architecture is 
Joseph Howland Hunt, a brother of the above. 
and of the same firm. He was horn in New 
York City, March. 1870, was educated at St. 
Mark's School. Southboro, Mass.: then went 
to Harvard University; studied at Columbia 
College and L'Ecole des Beaux Aits. Paris. 
He traveled extensively in Europe studying 
architecture and visiting all the famous cathe- 
dral towns of England, as well as the Con- 
tinent. He also spent considerable time on 
the Island of Sicily, examining the splendid 
remains of Greek temples to be found at Gir- 
genta. The tine old church at Palermo was 
made a subject of special examination. Mr. 
Hunt is very fond of shooting and sought big 
game in Canada and the Rockies. He has 
visited the Bermudas. He is a member of the 
National Guard of this state and belongs to 
Squadron A. the crack troop of New York. 
He is secretary of the Fine Arts Federation: 
treasurer of the American Society of the Beaux 
Arts; treasurer of the Architectural League; 
member of the New York Chapter of the 
American Institute of Architects, the New 
England Society, the Municipal Arts Society 
and the Graduates Association; belongs to the 
University, Racquet and Tennis. Harvard 
and Players' clubs. Mr. Hunt has utilized his 
travels in every possible way to increase his 
architectural knowledge. He lias at his finger 
tips the details of most of the grand palaces 
of Italy. France and England. He has espe- 
cially studied the Gothic, although he has 
given much time to Moorish remains in 
Spain. 

So many men have been conspicuous in 
the creation of modern New York, and their 
shares in the splendid results have been so 
varied that it almost seems invidious to single 
out any one architect for special commenda- 
tion; but an exception may be justifiably made 
in the case of Julius Franke. who. although one 
of the younger architects in this great com- 



petitive city, really merits the admiration of his 
fellow countrymen. Mr. Franke is a native 
of this city, born 1868, and educated at the 
public schools, the College of the City of New 
York and the Cooper I nion. At the age of 
IS he began the study of architecture in the 
office of architect Duenkel, of Hoboken, and 
after accumulating sufficient funds by four 
years' work, he went to Paris for special 
observation. There he received great en- 
couragement and mastered all schools of archi- 
tecture from the early Norman to the most 
modern. Notre Dame Cathedral became as 
much of an enthusiasm to him, architecturally, 
as it was to Victor Hugo. He traveled ex- 
tensively, after the completion of his course of 
study, and personally examined many of the 
notable architectural marvels of the Old 
World. Before going to Europe, he entered 
the office of George B. Post, and one of the 
first responsibilities committed to him by Mr. 
Post— although barely twenty-one years of 
age was the supervision of the Pulitzer build- 
ing, fronting City Hall Square. This task 
required his constant attention for nearly a 
year, and he gave to it the same concentra- 
tion of thought that has characterized his 
subsequent work. Upon his return from 
Europe the firm of Maynicke & Franke. 
which erected more than 200 large buildings 
in New York City, was formed. The one 
that most promptly recurs to me is the new 
Fifth Avenue building, on the site of the old 
hotel of that name. When I asked Mr. 
Franke what had induced him to adopt this 
line of activity, he replied: '* 1 could not get 
along with my father in his business and 1 
selected architecture, in the firm belief that 
it was best suited to my inclination and ca- 
pacity." The speaker was proud of the fact 
that he always had had to work for a living. 
He has been a grand juror for six years. His 
clubs are the New York Athletic and Repub- 
lican; he is a member of the American Insti- 
tute of Architects. 



1 82 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




JULIUS FRANKE 



.ti >h\ \ -i ii \i.i 1:1: 



The designing of beautiful architectural 
structures is, of course, a condition precedent 
to their erection; but a competent builder to 
accurately execute the designs is of equal im- 
portance. For this reason John V. Schaefer, 
Jr., deserves a place well up in the list of 
those who have contributed to the architec- 
tural beautifying of the cities of this country. 
Mr. Schaefer was horn in this city in 1872, 
finished his education in the city of New 
York and then took a post-graduate course 
in architecture in Vienna. His business career 
began in association with his father, as an 
interior decorator: l>ut. in 1889, he started 
for himself and six years later incorporated 
under the firm name of John N . Schaefer. 
Jr., & Company, having for his partners 
II. Y. Carrere and J). II. Mapes. 

Mr. Schaefer has been successful from the 
outset, alwavs making a specialty of high- 
class private residences, both city and country, 
and institutional buildings. Among the finest 
examples may be mentioned the residence of 



Edwin Gould, at Ardsley; Daniel and Murray 
Guggenheim, at Elberon; Stephen ('. Millett, 
at irvington; Forsyth Wickes, at Tuxedo, and 
Percy Strauss, at Red Hank. The beautiful 
memorial building at Cornell University, dedi- 
cated to Goldwin Smith and known as "The 
College of Humanities," and Rockefeller Hall, 
upon the same campus, were built by this 
firm. Concordia College, at Bronxville, and 
the Administration Building and Concourse 
in Bronx Park are also their work. Bethany 
Memorial Church and Day Nursery, in this 
city: the Westchester Court House at White 
Plains; a group of twenty-eight buildings for 
the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, of 
Pleasantville, and the Glen Cove Bank, on 
Long Island, are products of their skill. Mr. 
Schaefer is treasurer of the Blanc Stainless 
Cement ( lompany, a director of the Hungarian- 
American Bank, of Xew York, and director of 
the International Import and Export Com- 
pany. He is a member of the University Club. 
of Washington, 1). C, of a similar organiza- 
tion of college men at Pleasantville. N. ^ .. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



183 



and of the New York Athletic Club of this 
city. lie is a Democrat and the only public 
office he ever has attempted to attain is that of 
School Director in the town of Mt. Pleasant, 
Westchester County, where his summer home 
is located. 

As the architect of several of New York's 
leading hotels, Henry J. Hardenbergh has 
contributed much to the structural beauty of 
the city. 

Mr. Hardenbergh was born in New Bruns- 
wick, N. J., February (>. 1847, and when 
eighteen years of age took up the study of 
architecture with Detlef Lienau. After five 
years of thorough preparation, he, in 1870, 
commenced active practice in New York City, 
and has been eminently successful, designing 
many buildings that are recognized as among 
the finest in the metropolis. These include 
the Dakota. Waldorf-Astoria. Plaza and Man- 
hattan hotels and the American Fine Arts 
Society building. 

Mr. Hardenbergh resides at Bernardsville, 

N. J., and his studio is at Xo. 1 West Thirty- 
fourth Street, New York City. 

Another architect from the West who has 
attained a high measure of success in this city 
is Albert Frederick D'Oench, born in St. 
Louis, Mo., in 1852, and graduated twenty 
years later M.E. from Washington University 
in that city. Thence he went abroad and 
studied at Stuttgart, Wurtcmberg, Germany, 
finishing at the Royal Polytechnic Institute 
in that city. Returning to New York, in 
1875, he began his professional career as an 
architect ami pursued it with distinguished 
success. He was Superintendent of Build- 
ings of the city of New York, 1885-'89; mem- 
ber and Chairman of the Board of Examiners 
of the city of New York, 1900-1902. He is a 
director of the Germania Life Insurance Com- 
pany and of the American Eden Musee 
Company. He is now senior member of the 
firm of D'Oench vV Post; a Fellow of the 
American Institute of Architects and of its 
New York Chapter; member of the Archi- 
tectural League of New York and of the Beta 



Theta Pi fraternity, the Automobile, Reform, 
Graduates and Manhassel Bay Yachi clubs. 
Mr. D'Oench is especially fond of country 
life and has a place at Manhasset, Long Island, 
known as "Sunset Hill." where he passes a 
large part of the year. 

The State of Ohio has contributed to the 
metropolis a successful architect in the person 
of William Wells Bosworth, born at Marietta. 
1S(i!). educated at Marietta College, the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology and L'Ecole 
des Beaux Arts. Paris. Mr. Bosworth has 
engaged in practice under his own name and 
in connection with Jarvis Hunt, of Chicago. 
He is an Associate of the American Institute 
of Architects; corresponding secretary of the 
Societe Beaux Arts Architects; Companion of 
the First Class (by inheritance) of the Loyal 
Legion of the United States. Ohio Command- 
ery. He belongs to the Century, Players' and 
other social organizations. 

I want to talk about the man who built two 
and a half miles of the first New York Sub- 
way. He is a born engineer. A passion for 
constructive work directed the mind of John 
J. Hopper toward a career as civil engineer and 
contractor. He was born in Manhattan, 
November, 1853, educated at the public 
schools and was graduated at Dartmouth Col- 
lege in 1877 — a member of the Beta Theta Pi 
fraternity. He took a special course at the 
Thayer School of Civil Engineering, con- 
nected with Dartmouth. When the agitation 
for the construction of the subway from the 
Battery to Van Cortland Park had taken 
shape. Mr. Hopper was one of the earliest 
bidders and secured a contract as stated above, 
completing the work days ahead of time. He 
is of Dutch ancestry, his family having lived 
in New York and New Jersey for two and a 
half centuries. He belongs to the Independ- 
ence League and was its candidate for Governor 
against Dix and for sheriff of New York County 
1!)1 1. He is a member of the Reform. Single 
Tax, City, Engineers' and Dartmouth clubs, 
the Municipal Arts Society, American Society 
of Civil Engineers and the American 
Geographical Society. 



I, St 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




wm. \v hi iswi mill 



JOHN J. Hi IPPER 



WM 11 McCORD 



^hat is technically known as "skeleton" 
construction in modern habitations might be 
justly described as ;i phase of the evolution 
of modern civilization. The development of 
this particular phase may he partly attributed 
to the fact that a little less than a half century 
ago a boy named William Hewlett McCord, 
disregarding the predelictions of his parents 
for a professional career for their son. went 
with the firm of .1. B. and W. W. Cornell, 
manufacturers of architectural iron, and 
learned the trade with them. Born in New- 
burgh, Orange County, 1S47. he was educated 
in the public schools and at what is now the 
University of the City of New York. Joining 
the above-mentioned firm at an early age, he 
went, in 1870, to the Architectural Iron Works, 
which 1 remember as the firm that built the 
Grand Central station, lately razed. Little 
did 1 think, when contemplating the erection 
of that then remarkable structure, that I 
would live to see it torn down as inadequate 
to the requirements of an overgrown traffic. 
In 1876 the firm of Post & McCord was 
established. 1 believe they erected the first 
fireproof structure, the original Morse Build- 
ing, at the corner of Nassau and Beekman 
streets, and later. Temple Court, still stand- 
ing. The first "skeleton" steel structure in 
New York, according to Mr. McCord, was 
the Chatham Hank building, at .John Street and 
Broadway. The important part played by 
Post & McCord in their Held is evinced by a 
contemplation of Madison Square. The won- 



derful Metropolitan Life Tower, as well as 
the late Madison Square Garden Tower, the 
Fifth Avenue Building, the Brunswick Build- 
ing and that at 334 Fourth Avenue, owes its 
steel skeleton to this firm. Other remarkable 
works of architecture, as regards steel frame- 
work, attributable to Tost & McCord. are the 
buildings of the University of New York, 
the City Investing Building and the thirty- 
nine-story Bankers' Trust edifice at the cor- 
ner of Nassau and Wall streets. 

Many of the public buildings of Brooklyn 
arc tin" work of the P. J. Carlin Construction 
Company. 'The Brooklyn Institute of Arts 
and Sciences and the Hall of Records are note- 
worthy examples. This firm was founded by 
Patrick J. ( arlin. who was born in Kathmelton, 
County Donegal, in 1851. He saw but little 
of the land of his birth, coming to this country 
when an infant with his parents. When 
twelve years of age he entered upon a prac- 
tical education in his present vocation, being- 
set to bricklaying by his father. 

In addition to the buildings mentioned, the 
Carlin Construction Company has erected 
some of the Naval Academy buildings at 
Annapolis. The company also completed the 
capitol at Albany. Mr. Carlin is first Vice- 
President of and particularly interested in the 
Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum Society; 
President of the Prospect Gun Club and was 
formerly President of the Emerald Society of 
Brooklyn and of the St. Patrick Society. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



1S5 




ri < Mil ktc in i:\siui 



THOMAS DlMnNI) 



I'llAKLES CRANFORD 



After several years' training in the active 
business of a New York banking house, 
Robert Clifford Burnside became President 
of the Asbestolith Manufacturing Company, 
a corporation of which the late C. T. Barney 
was practically the owner. The Asbestolith 
Company supplies granite for building pur- 
poses. Mr. Burnside was also associated with 
the late Thomas B. Reed and Payson Tucker, 
of Maine. Mr. Burnside was born in New 
York City in 1S66, and was educated at the 
New York public schools. His company sup- 
plied the granite for Grant's Tomb, the Smith 
Memorial of Philadelphia, the house of former 
Senator Clark on upper Fifth Avenue, as well 
as for the Clark tomb at Woodlawn, the Dun 
building and the Bowling Green building and 
other important buildings throughout the 
country. Mr. Burnside is descended from 
Sir William Wallace, on his father's side. He 
is a Mason, a member of the Ancient Order of 
Foresters, of the Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica, Royal Arcanum, the Republican Club and 
Railroad Club. 

The growth of demand for structural iron 
and steel used in buildings has developed sev- 
eral notable characters in this city. Thomas 
Dimond was born at Garrisons, N. \ ., in 
1854, hut was early transplanted to New York, 
where he enjoyed the benefits of our public 
schools, took a course in business at Pack- 
ard's and studied architecture under James 
Renwick, the designer of Grace Church and 
St. Patrick's Cathedral. Mr. Dimond worked 



on plans of the latter structure. On the com- 
pletion of that splendid edifice, he began the 
manufacture of architectural iron work, asso- 
ciated with an uncle. His father had original- 
ly been in this business. He has always taken 
an active interest in New York real estate 
and believes that the region around the new 
Pennsylvania railroad station will become the 
future business centre. He is interested in 
horses, is a director of the Westchester Horse 
Show Association and has a fine country place 
at Rye. He was for many years a member 
of the Seventh Regiment, N. G. N. Y. ; he 
is a vestryman of All Angels' Episcopal 
Church and belongs to numerous clubs and 
social organizations. 

Charles Cranford was born in New York 
in 1868, entered the employ of the Inman 
Steamship Company in 1882 and that of the 
Commercial Bank in 18S.>. With the latter insti- 
tution he remained five years, leaving to form 
the firm of Cranford & Valentine, contractors, 
which partnership existed till 1!)0.5. In the 
construction of and removal of grade crossings 
on the Brighton Beach Line. Mr. Cranford 
performed his workso capably and expeditious- 
ly as to earn the gratitude of the residents of 
Flatbush and following this achievement a 
public dinner was given to him. 

Mr. Cranford is Vice-President of the 
People's Surety Company. President of the 
Flushing Bay Improvement Company, and 
Vice-President of the Borough Development 
( Company. 



186 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




Col. M. J. DADY 



When a large or difficult contract is an- 
nounced, Michael J. Dady is sure to be found 
among the bidders often the successful one. 

My especial interest in 
him is that he began 
life as an office boy in 
a newspaper office. He 
was a glutton for hard 
work and soon decided 
that his craving there- 
for could be better 
utilized in some other 
line of endeavor. As 
he intended to end by 
being a constructor of 
1 a i' g e building's, he 
learned the trade of 
masonry, that he might 
begin at the bottom and 
know all about his life's 
occupation. Nothing in the way of informa- 
tion escaped him. lie soon knew exactly how 
many bricks a competent mason could lay in a 
dav's work and how few an incompetent man 
"scratched through." 

When he became wise enough to go alone 
and secured his first contract. Michael J. 
Dady made a beginning in politics. His polit- 
ical career is an interesting one. He has shown 
much independence at times and has been 
"inside" and "outside the breastworks" when- 
ever his conscience dictated. Mr. Dady was 
born in Brooklyn, April. 1850, and attended 
its public schools. He tells me the better 
part of his education was obtained in a news- 
paper office. When he entered the office of 
William C. King-slew a contractor, he mapped 
out his future course. He worked as a mason 
on the General Post Office building, at Broad- 
way and Park Row. Five years later he was 
general superintendent of all national build- 
ings under construction in New York City! 
Naturally, when a Federal building was de- 
creed for Brooklyn, he became superintend- 
ent of construction. After several experiences 
in partnership, with excellent men, Mr. Dady 
decided to go alone in 1893. The Michael 
.1. Dady Contracting Company was formed— 
he being sole owner. Under this name Mr. 
Dady has completed some of the largest under- 
takings in this country. One wing of the 



Metropolitan Museum of Art was constructed 
by him. lie has had municipal government 
work of huge proportions. His contract with 
the Spanish government to build the sewers of 
Havana. Cuba, amounted to $14,000,000. 
The Spanish-American War defeated this con- 
tract, but the Government of Intervention 
allowed Mr. Dady $250,000 for work done. 

Mr. Dady has been very prominent at times 
in Brooklyn politics; he has been delegate to 
three National Conventions, twenty years on 
the Republican State Committee, and an 
elector on the McKinley ticket. He is a 
member of many clubs. 




il.Al Hi il'l 



When the tunnel under the Detroit River 
that connects Detroit with Windsor. Canada, 
was decided upon by the Michigan Central 
Railroad, one or two unsuccessful attempts 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



187 



having previously been made to complete it, 
Olaf Holt' in 1906 submitted plans that un- 
folded a previously untried method of tunnel 
construction. These plans were adopted and 
the contract awarded his firm. 

What seemed an impossible undertaking 
was successfully completed by the middle of 
the year 1910. A trench was dug in the bed 
of the river by the use of floating dredges; 
steel tubes 23 feet 4. inches in diameter and 
L 2(>0 feet long, reinforced every twelve feet with 
transverse partitions or diaphrams of steel 
plates, were floated over the trench and sunk 
into the ditches by filling them with water. 
They did not lie directly on the bottom of 
the river bed but were held suspended several 
feet above to permit the filling in of concrete, 
thus giving to them solid foundation. When 
the concreting was finished, water was pumped 
from the tubes and concrete lining placed 
inside. 

Mr. Hoff was granted letters patent for this 
invention, which establishes a new era in 
subaqueous tunnelling. 

Mr. Hon" was born at Smaalenene, Norway, 
April, 18.59; he received a technical education 
at Christiania, taking his C.E. degree in 1870. 
He came to the United States in the same year 
and from that time until now has been engaged 
in numerous bridge undertakings and other 
engineering projects in this country and 
Mexico. He has lately had supervision of the 
construction of the new Vanderbilt Hotel on 
Park Avenue. During four years' connection 
with the Xew York Central & Hudson River 
railroad he built or renewed more than four 
hundred bridges on that line. He built for 
the Great Northern Railway the great steel 
structure across the Mississippi River at 
Minneapolis. 

His history in this country is a continual 
career of successes since the day he entered 
the services of the Keystone Bridge Company 
of Pittsburg in 1880. 

He is now engaged in the practice of en- 
gineering in this city with an office in the 
Singer Building. 

Among his inventions are methods of sub- 
marine pile driving, reinforced concrete piles. 



grain-bin construction of reinforced concrete 
and fireproof Mooring. 

He is a member of the American Society of 
Civil Engineers, the National Geographic 
Society, and the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science. 

One of the authorities in this country on 
water supply and sanitation is Cornelius 
( larkson Vermeule, a civil engineer of national 
reputation, who for thirty years has been 
chief consulting engineer for the State of New- 
Jersey. He was born in New Brunswick, 
N. J., 1858, and was graduated at Rutgers 
College twenty years later. Three years' sub- 
sequent study secured for him a degree of 




CORNELIUS C. VERMEULE 

civil engineer. Although he had joined the 
engineering staff of the Newark Aqueduct 
Board, he took charge of the topographical 
survey of the State of New" Jersey. This im- 
portant work occupied ten years, and. when 
completed, was the first scientific survey made 
by any state in the Union. Without precedent 
to guide him. Mi'. Vermeule accomplished 
this task. At the time he undertook this work, 



188 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



he was twenty years of age. In 1SSS he 
opened an office on Broadway and has since 
acted as advisory engineer tor many of the 
cities and private water companies of the 
Middle States. He has constructed large 
plants in numerous cities. He acted as con- 
sulting engineer for the Republic of Cuba on 
questions of water supply and sanitation. He 
constructed a new sewerage system For Cien- 
fuegos, Cuba. He became interested in the 
development of Maine seaside property,— 
planning and building York Cliffs and Passa- 
conaway Inn. His ancestor in this country 
was Adrian Yermenle. who came from Ylis- 
singen, Holland, in Hi!)!); he was an educated 
man and became town clerk and voorleser 
of Harlem, N. Y. Moving to Plaiiffield. \. J., 
in 1735, the family acquired an estate of twelve 
hundred acres. Adrian's son, Cornelius, was 
a member of the Committee of Safety and 
Provincial Congress, during the Revolution. 
The son of this man, in turn, named Cornelius, 
served as Captain in the Somerset Militia 
throughout that war. The Vermeule home- 
stead, at Plainfield, was the scene of many 
gatherings of heroes during the most trying 
periods of the War for Liberty; Washington 
was a frequent guest. The subject of this 
sketch belongs to the Century Association 
and the Holland Society. Although holding 
an appointive office, he never has been a can- 
didate for a political one. In politics, he 
always has been an Independent. 

Railroad management of this country is to- 
day in the hands of comparatively young men. 
An example is seen in Henry Gordon Stott, 
who at the aye of forty-five is Superintendent 
of Motive Power for the Interborough Transit 
Company of New York City. Mr. Stott was 
born in the Orkney Islands. Scotland, in 
]S(i(i. After attending the public schools, 
he took a course at Watson's College, Edin- 
burgh; but his technical education was re- 
ceived at Glasgow, where he specialized in 
mechanical engineering and electricitv. He 
at once sought employment with an electric 
lighl company at Glasgow, but soon was ap- 
pointed an electrician on board the Anglo- 
American Telegraph Company's steamship 
" Minia," employed in making deep sea re- 



pairs on Atlantic cables. He duplexed the 
Direct United States Cable Company's main 
line, at that time the longest cable (2,750 
marine miles) ever duplexed. In 1889 he 
joined the Brush Electric Engineering Com- 
pany, of England; next he was sent to Madrid 
for the installation of the English Electric 
Eight Company, of that city. and. in 1891, 
he came to America and installed the Buffalo 
Eight & Power Company. He then joined 
the Manhattan Railway Company of this city, 
installed the third rail system and soon attained 
the commanding place he now holds. 

Among the prominent consulting engineers 
of lower Broadway. I must not fail to mention 
Col. John Bogart. who. after graduating at 
Rutgers College, became a consulting engineer 
with the New York Central Railroad and 
afterward assisted in the construction of Cen- 
tral Park. When the Civil War broke out, 
he entered the engineer service of the Federal 
Army and had charge of the construction of 
the fort at the Rip Raps, Hampton Roads. 
He served until l<S(i(>. Iu 1870 he became 
chief engineer of the Park Commission of 
Brooklyn, but soon resumed his connection 
with the public parks of Manhattan Island, 
continuing as chief engineer until 1877. Since 
the latter date, he has been engaged upon im- 
portant municipal work at New Orleans. 
Baltimore, Chicago, Albany, Nashville and in 
South America. In this connection, his plan- 
ning of the West Side parks of Chicago and 
of the park system of Newark and the Oranges 
and that of Albany deserves especial notice. 
He built the Washington Bridge across the 
Harlem; was consulting engineer for the 
Niagara Falls Power Company, the New 
York Rapid Transit Commission and the 
New York State Board of Health. He was 
State Engineer of New York for four years, 
and has served as an officer of the American 
Society of Civil Engineers. 

Recently he has designed and constructed 
many hydraulic and electric developments 
financed in New York Citv; some of the larger 
ones being being those of the St. Lawrence 
Power Company, the Atlanta Water & Electric 
Power Company, the Cascade (British Co- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



189 




ALFRED CRAVEN 



Col. JOHN BOGART 



A 1-1 HI I) P. BOLLER 



lumbia) Company, the Chattanooga & Ten- 
nessee River Power ( Company. I [e is the New 
York member of the U. S. Board on the deep 
waterway from the Lakes to the Gulf of 
Mexico, and on the American Commission of 
Congresses of International Navigation. He 
has been the Engineer officer of the State 
National Guard. lie is a member of mam- 
social and scientific organizations. 

The success of the subways uniting the 
various sections of this great city has been 
due to the care and ability bestowed upon the 
original designs by the engineers who made 
them. At present, the progress of the sub- 
way extensions is in the hands of a thoroughly 
capable engineer, with a Naval Academy train- 
ing behind him. 1 refer to Alfred Craven, 
who since 1884 has been actively engaged as a 
civil engineer in this city. Originally, he be- 
longed to Xew Jersey, having been born at 
Bound Brook in 1846. He was appointed to 
the United States Naval Academy, where he 
was graduated with honors in 1867. Mr. 
Craven remained in the service until 1871, 
when he resigned to accept a place with the 
California Geological Survey. He remained 
on the Pacific Coast until 1884, when he came 
to this city to accept an offer from the Aque- 
duct Commission. For six years he worked 
on reservoirs, dams and aqueducts, being 
division engineer most of the time. In 1900 



the Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners 
chose him as a division engineer and five years 
later he became Deputy Chief Engineer; when 
Henrv B. Seaman, chief of the Enoineerine; 
Department, resigned. Mr. Craven succeeded 
him. He has been in continuous practice of 
his profession for thirty-nine years. 

Among the distinguished civil engineers 
who have specialized upon railroad-bridge 
construction in this country is Alfred Pancoast 
Boiler, who came to this city from Philadel- 
phia, where he was born in 1840. After 
securing a degree at the University of Penn- 
sylvania in 1858, he took an engineering course 
at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Troy, 
N. Y., until 1861. He has been in continuous 
practice of his profession ever since, conduct- 
ing important works in various parts of this 
country, as assistant chief, consulting or con- 
tractmg engineer. He is now of the firm of 
Boiler & I lodge. Among the large enter- 
prises he has carried out are the double track 
steel bridge over the Hudson, at Albany, 
a similar structure over the Thames, at New 
London; also, a four-track structure connect- 
ing Duluth and Superior City. He served as 
consulting engineer in the Department of 
Parks and Public Works of Xew York City, 
and designed and constructed the extension 
of the Wabash lines into Pittsburg. He is 
author of "A Practical Treatise on the Con- 



190 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



struetion of Iron Highway Bridges;" he has 
been a constant contributor to technical 
journals. He is a member of the British In- 
stitute of Civil Engineers and of the American 
Society of Civil Engineers. In politics. Mr. 
Boiler is an Independent Republican; his 
club is the Century. 

One of a distinguished galaxy of Kentuck- 
ians who have fought the battle of life snecess- 
fnllv in the metropolis is Albert U. Ledoux. 
Born in Newport, on the south side of the ( )hio 
river. November, 1852, he studied successively 
at Columbia. School of Mines, Berlin University 
and the famous University of Gottingen, from 
which latter he was graduated with the degrees 
of A.M. and Ph.D. He also received the de- 
gree of M.S. from the University of North 
Carolina in 1SS0. From 1876 to 1880 he 
served as chemist and member of the State 
Board of Health in North Carolina. Since 
that time he has practiced independently as 
consulting mining engineer, metallurgist, as- 
saver and chemist. 'The firm of Ledoux & 
Co. has attained a national position as metal- 
lurgists. By far the larger part of the copper 
produced in the United States, Canada. South 
America and Australia passes through their 
hands for assay and the certificates of this firm 
are known and accepted throughout the civil- 
ized world. The eminence that Albert Le- 
doux has achieved in his profession is evidenced 
in the fact that he has been elected President 
of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. 



He is also a member ot the American Scien- 
tific Alliance, the American Chemical Society, 
the Society of Medical Jurisprudence, the 
American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the 
Canadian Mining Institute. New York Acade- 
my of Science. Society of Chemical Industry, 
A. A. A. S., and New York Zoological Society. 
The City. National Arts, Baltusrol Golf and 
Storm King Golf clubs have his name on 
their membership rolls. 

Another New Jersey contribution to the 
successful engineers of the metropolis, born 
under the shadow of the New York sky-line 
almost, at Passaic, is Mason R. Strong, a de- 
scendant, in the 9th generation, of Elder John 
Strong, who sailed from England in the ship 
"Mary and John" and landed in New 
land, 1631, was prepared for co 
Albany Military Academy; he was graduated 
from the School of Arts. Columbia University, 
1889, and then spent a year at the Columbia 
School of Architecture, — one of the divisions 
of the "School of Mines" as it was then mis- 
named. He entered the office of the Chief 
Engineer of the Erie Railroad Company, and 
became responsible for all structural ques- 
tions with regard to bridges and buildings, 
with official title of "Engineer of Bridges and 
Buildings." The jurisdiction of this office ex- 
tended over the entire Erie system, including 
the New York, Susquehanna & Western R. H. 
and the Chicago & Erie R. R. In 1896 he 
became the responsible engineering represen- 



Eng- 
ege at the 




ALBERT R. LEDOUX 



JOHN J. CARTY 



MASON R. STRONG 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



191 



tative of the Erie Company on the great 
Buffalo City Grade Crossing Elimination, 
where many millions of dollars were spent. 
In 1 !)(>(>, he left the Erie to be associated, 
at 7 Wall Street, with the late W. Wheeler 
Smith, prominent among New York City 
architects for upwards of forty years, to whose 
business he has succeeded. For over a year 
after leaving the Erie, however, lie was re- 
tained as consulting engineer on that com- 
pany's official list. From 1890 to 1906-7, the 
track and structures on the Erie were prac- 
tically rebuilt, many interesting structures 
being erected. A mono- them is the world-famous 
Kinzua viaduct, finished in 1 !)()<>. 2,000 feet 
long and 301 feet high. There were many 
other important viaducts, two being over 
3,000 feet long each. 

In private work Mr. Strong was the struc- 
tural consulting engineer for the Empire City 
and Belmont Park grandstands; and this 
year, as architect and engineer, built the new 
grandstand at the historic Goshen track for 
the Orange County Driving Park Association, 
—besides the regular architecture work of the 
office. He has membership in the Society 
of Columbia University Architects, American 
Institute of Consulting Engineers. American 
Society of Civil Engineers, Columbia Univer- 
sity Club, and Delta Kappa Epsilon frater- 
nity. He is one of the Health Commissioners 
of the City of Passaic, X. J., and a member of 
its Board of Trade; a Republican in politics; 
and a member of the Reformed (Dutch) 
Church. 

Some one once defined an engineer as "a 
man who could do with one dollar what 
any one could do with two." This definition 
has reference particularly to skilled intelligence 
of the first order. I am now about to speak 
of a man who has contributed vastly to the 
development of the telephone system of the 
United States. Since the year 1876, when 
Alexander Graham Bell made it possible for 
two people to converse over a wire so success- 
fully that voices could be recognized, the 
telephone has become one of the industries of 
scientific value so great as to defy prognostica- 



tion. At first the world was incredulous, but 
the instrument first became useful and then 
an absolute necessity. 

The science of telephony bears an intimate 
relation to my own profession, for in these days 
the telephone is used by a large part of the 
metropolitan newspapers for the collection of 
afternoon and late night news. It has become 
an indispensable part of the machinery of 
daily journalism. In a position to observe its 
development, I have often marveled at the 
achievements of John J. Carty. present chief 
engineer of the American Telephone and 
Telegraph Company. To his genius is largely 
due the growth from two crude sounding boxes. 
connected by wire, to the present system of 
multiple switchboards. 

Mr. Carty was born in Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1861, and at an early age entered 
the service of the Bell Telephone Company. 
He literally began at the lowest round of the 
ladder, but his progress toward the important 
place he now occupies has been steady and 
always earned. He has been accorded the 
distinction that sometimes, not always, re- 
wards genius and constructive accomplish- 
ment. He is a prominent member of the In- 
stitute of Electrical Engineers. 

Many thousand words would be needed 
to tell the story of Mr. Carty's various im- 
provements. Especially has he given service 
in rendering speech over the wire clearer, in 
removing the induction noises and in expe- 
diting by his constantly improving switch- 
boards promptitude of intercommunication. 
It is a matter of tradition that when the first 
telephone line was opened between New York 
and Philadelphia it was difficult to persuade 
the honest Quakers that they were really talk- 
ing with some one in the metropolis. Mr. 
Carty is largely responsible for rendering the 
voice of the speaker so distinct that it can be 
recognized. After the first long line had been 
opened in Chicago, St, Louis was connected 
up, then Denver and in a few months San 
Francisco will be brought into conversational 
touch with the Atlantic seaboard. 



192 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




(.'apt. DAVID L. HOUGH 



P. H. DUDLEY 



PAUL i',. BR( >\VN 



David L. Hough has become one of the most 
successful engineering contractors in the 
country. 

Mr. Hough was born at Fort Wayne, Ind., 
in 1865, and was educated in the public schools 
and by a private tutor. After graduating 
from Yale University in 1885 with the degree 
of Ph. J)., he served an apprenticeship as 
machinist and boilermaker. His first employ- 
ment was as chief engineer in the structural 
department of R. D. 'Wood & Co., Philadel- 
phia, and he became in succession chief en- 
gineer and general manager of the East River 
Gas Company, and general manager of the 
National Contracting Company. lie is now 
president of the United Engineering and 
Contracting Company, The Cuban Engineer- 
ing and Contracting Co., the New York 
Tunnel Company and the Hough- Wickersham 
Realty Company. 

Mr. Hough was a captain in the 1st Regi- 
ment, U. S. Volunteer Engineers during the 
Spanish-American War. and also held the 
same rank in one of the companies of the 
71st Regiment, N. G. N. Y. 

He is a member of the Naval and Military 
Order of the Spanish-American War, Ameri- 
can Society of Civil Engineers, American 
Society of Mechanical Engineers, American 
Gas Institute, Theta Xi Association, and the 
University, Engineers, Yale. American Yacht, 
Turf and Field and City Lunch clubs of New 
York City; the University of Philadelphia, 
the Graduates of New Haven and the Vedado 
Tennis of Havana, Cuba. 



Iowa's contribution to the engineering talent 
of New York is Paul (J. Brown, Vice-President 
and Managing Engineer of the United En- 
gineering & Contracting Company. Born at 
Red Oak. Iowa. 1871, he had his prelimi- 
nary schooling at Tabor College and Wyoming 
Seminary, and finished at Cornell University 
in a special engineering course. He began as 
a rodman in the Chicago Bureau of Engi- 
neermg, then served in the construction of the 
water- works tunnels under Lake Michigan. 
He rose to be engineer in charge of that 
branch of the city's works. Several firms hav- 
ing city contracts aggregating millions of dol- 
lars abandoned them, but Mr. Brown took 
them over and completed them at less than 
contract prices. He was among the first to 
devise methods for soft ground tunnelling, 
since employed so effectively in Hudson and 
East River subterranean work. In 1899 he 
removed to Pittsburg to become chief en- 
gineer and superintendent of a large con- 
tracting corporation, and during that con- 
nection (1904) constructed about five miles 
of exceedingly difficult tunnel for a new water 
supply system of Cincinnati. lb' came to 
New York as engineer-in-charge for the con- 
tractors of the Terminal Improvement of the 
New York Central Railroad. As a side issue 
he completed the "Belmont Tunnel." under 
the East River to Long Island City — devising 
the coffer-dam on Man-of-War reef. He then 
engaged with the United Engineering and 
Contracting Company as managing engineer 
in the construction of the Pennsylvania Rail- 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



i<):3 



road tunnels across Manhattan Island. Mr. 
Brown is considered a national authority on 
tunnel construction. lie belongs to a dozen 

among which arc the 
Whist and Engineers' 



organizations, 



social 

Cornell, D. K. E., 

clubs of New York. 

A great railroad corporation like the New 
York Central, having mighty rivals, naturally 
secures the best possible engineering talent 
both for active work and for consultation. 
The growth of the permanent way since the 
days of the strap rail has not been effected 
without a constant exercise of the keenest 
scientific judgment. There is as great a gulf 
of experiment, not to say anxiety, between 
the three-inch strap rail of soft iron and the 
six-inch steel rail of the present day, weighing 
100 pounds to the yard, as there is between 
the original "Rocket" locomotive and the 
gigantic 250-ton engines that draw the 18- 
hour trains to Chicago. The ""Rocket" could 
hardly pull three Concord coach-bodies mount- 
ed upon trucks, whereas the latest type of 
express locomotives whisk a ten-car train of 
steel Pullmans across country at 60 miles 
an hour. To these changed conditions the 
ever-thoughtful civil engineers attached to 
these progressive railroad corporations have 
chiefly contributed. In this class of men be- 
longs Plimmon Henry Dudley, one of the fore- 
most metallurgical experts in this country. 
He was born at Freedom, O., May, 1843; edu- 
cated at the public schools, attended the 
Hiram College, where President Garfield had 
been a professor. I first heard of him as the 
chief engineer on the Valley railway, but he 
had been city engineer of Akron four years 
prior to that time. From his earliest student 
days he had been a constant observer of rail- 
road building; he realized the future growth 
of that great public servant, the railway; he 
divined its weakness and set about a search 
for improvements. In short, even while super- 
intending the construction of roads, sewers 
and various municipal improvements at Akron, 
his active mind was largely devoted to railroad 
construction. Therefore, we find him an inven- 
tor of the dynagraph, track indicator, strem- 
matograph 



or recording strains in rails under 



engineer 



moving trains and several other equally val- 
uable innovations now in general use. He it 
was who designed the first five-inch steel rail 
used in the United States, in INN.'); this was fol- 
lowed by the first six-inch steel rail. 1892. Mr. 
Dudley was first to announce that decay in 
wood is caused by fungi and not by animal 
parasites as popularly supposed. He has 
attended railway conferences in all parts of 
the world. Is a member of numerous scientific 
bodies and is to-day consultin 
for the New York Central. 

A man of whose acquaintance I am espe- 
cially proud is Rossiter Worthington Ray- 
mond, scientist, lawyer, author, and I beg to 
add, philosopher. There is little opportunity 
in a brief review of such a busy life to more than 
hint at its accomplishments. Dr. Raymond 
was born in Cincinnati, April, 1840, was edu- 
cated in America and in Europe -winning 
high honors at Heidelberg and Freiberg. He 
served through the entire Civil War as aide de 
camp with the rank of Captain, after which 
he was consulting engineer in New York for 
four years; United States Commissioner of 
Mining Statistics, two years. He became 
Professor of Economic Geology at Lafayette 
College, 1870, remaining 11 years. He has 
edited several engineering and mining journals, 
lectured on mining law at Columbia Univer- 
sity and is a member of the bar. He was one 
of the founders, ex-president and the present 
secretary of the American Institute of Mining 
Engineers and is a member of several foreign 
scientific societies. His largest scientific work, 
as an author, is "Mineral Resources of the 
United States. West of the Rocky Mountains," 
8 volumes. He belongs to numerous scientific 
and social organizations. 

An engineer who deserves mention because 
of his achievements is Peter Elbert Nostrand, 
who, as assistant engineer, designed and 
supervised the construction of the first elevated 
railroad in Brooklyn; made the original start 
with the Cape Cod Canal in 1880 and was 
chief engineer for the construction of the 
Broadway and the Third Avenue cable rail- 
ways in Manhattan. 



194 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



The invention and successful development 
of a number of important improvements in 
processes for ore treatment, now being adopted 
by the leading metallurgical establishments 
all over the world, and known as the "Dwighl 
and Lloyd Process." has placed Arthur S. 
Dwight among the leaders in his profession. 

Mr. Dwight was horn in Taunton. Mass.. 
March IN, 1864, and graduated from the 
Brooklyn Polytechnic in 1882, and the Co- 
lumbia School of Mines in 1885, the latter institu- 
tion conferring upon him the degree of En- 
gineer of Mines. Immediately upon gradu- 



Development of the mining interests in this 
country owes nearly as much to laboratory 
research work as to prospectors who have 
spent years of lonely rpiest among the moun- 
tains seeking mines. One of the best con- 
sulting engineers in this line known to me is 
George William Maynard, born in Brooklyn. 
June. 1839, and graduated from Columbia 
College in 1859. After graduation he took a 
course in chemistry in the Columbia College 
laboratory and in the autumn of 1860 went to 
Germany and put in two and one-half years 
at the Goettingen University and the Royal 
School of Mines. Clausthal. His first pro- 




\ I : I 1 1 1 • I : 



DWIGHT 



GEORGE W. MAYNARD 



EDWARD D. MEIER 



ation and continuously for twenty years after- 
ward, he was engaged in the successful han- 
dling and direction of a number of important 
mining and smelting enterprises in the West- 
ern United States and Mexico. 

In 1906 he located permanently in New 
York City as consulting mining engineer and 
later organized and became president of the 
Dwight & Lloyds Metallurgical Company. 
Mr. Dwight is a life member of the American 
Institute of Mining Engineers, a member of the 
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy of Eon- 
don. England: the Engineers' (dub of New 
York, and the Society of Colonial Wars. He 
is listed as a non-resident lecturer at Columbia 
University, in Mining and Metallurgy. 



fessional work was in Ireland as Superintend- 
ent of the Metallurgical Department of a cop- 
per mine. 

On his return to Xew York in 1N(>4 he 
established a mining engineering office and 
chemical laboratory and subsequently a branch 
office in Central City. Colorado, where he re- 
mained until the winter of 1867. In 1868 he 
was appointed Professor of Mining and Metal- 
lurgy at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 
Troy, Xew York. In 1873 he was called to 
London, which became his headquarters for 
the following six years. In 1876 he erected a 
copper plant in Russia for an English com- 
pany. In 1878 he investigated the Thomas 
Basic Steel Process and on his return to 
America disposed of the patents lo the Bes- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



195 



senior Company, Limited. He also introduced 
the Bower-Barff Rustless Iron Process. He 
was one of the original members of the Ameri- 
can Institute of Mining Engineers; a charter 
member of the Mining and Metallurgical 
Society of America; a member of the Iron and 
Steel Institute, London; the Institution of 
Mining & Metallurgy, London, and an hon- 
orary member of the Alumni Association of 
the School of Science. Columbia University. 
Mr. Maynard is at present in general practice 
as a consulting engineer. 

A young man should he thankful to lie in a 
position to choose his life's work through nat- 
ural fitness and inclination. Edward I). Meier 
inherited a love for machinery and conse- 
quently, when he started in the business of 
making locomotives in 1S(! L 2, he entered upon 
an occupation that ensured to him happiness 
and success. Born at St. Loins, in 1841, he 
received his education at Washington Uni- 
versity of that city and later studied for several 
years at the Royal Polytechnic Institute in 
Hanover. Germany. His return to America 
saw him launched upon a very successful 
career, broken only by two years of partici- 
pation in the Civil War. Since that time 
Mr. Meier has displayed genius and versa- 
tilitv in the deskniimj; and manufacture of cot- 
ton machinery, blast furnaces and in the de- 
velopment of water tube boilers. He is Pres- 
ident. Chief Engineer and Director of the 
Heine Safety Boiler Company. Mr. Meier 
has a leading part in many associations of his 
craft. 

What possible use had Niagara ever been 
to the human race until Nikola Tesla, and 
friends who financed his scheme, put the fall- 
ing waters to work ? 

A deal is heard about "vandals who would 
rob us of the greatest natural phenomenon on 
earth." I am aware that this is the popular view. 
But, how many of the hundred thousands of 
good Americans who jump to the conclusion that 
it is better to preserve a big waterfall for the 
edification of visiting bridal couples than to 
employ it turning lathes, driving looms or 
propelling railroad trains, realize that this 
"spectacle" is maintained for the enrichment 
of greedy hotel managers and of a few make- 
believe Indians, who sell fake moccasins? 



I have been a visitor at Niagara since 1864, 
when, as a boy, I climbed to the top of "Ter- 
rapin Tower," on the brink of the Horseshoe 
fall. When that ridiculous addition to nature 
was torn down, a mighty howl was raised. 
'The falls never will be the same!" we were 
told. When Table Rock fell, a similar cry 
was heard. 

Now, commercialism is drawing oil' so much 
water that the volume going over the cliff is 
noticeably reduced. Mathematicians produce 




NIKOLA TESLA 



calculations to prove that in a few more years 
all the overflow of the Great Lakes will be 
going through the turbines and the "spectacle" 
will cease to exist. Very well! We can do 
without the waterfalls; but light, power, trans- 
portation and manufactured products, rep- 
resenting the labor of man, are necessities! 
I have nerve enough to declare that all of 
Niagara, as a "spectacle," doesn't compare 
with one additional cotton or woolen mill, 
giving employment to several hundred active 
and clever American artisans. That is only 
one result of the "robbery of Niagara." But- 
ting the water to work may cause a falling off 
in trolley traffic through the Niagara gorge; 
but it will not render marriage unpopular, or 



196 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



by that means curl) the growth of our nation. 

The United States and Canada had these 
falls, 1 Go feet high, for more than a century 
and annually allowed nine hundred quadrillion 
gallons of water that they could not drink go 
to waste! Some of these citizens were im- 
bibing beer and rum when they might have 
been drinking this beautiful, God-given water! 
The aborigines liked the falling waters! Had 
they used them to bathe in, no doubt they 
would have retained possession of this vast 
territorial empire. To what use did they put 
the beautiful Niagara ? To most romantic use. 
Over its brink, in the light of every harvest 
moon, they sent the fairest Indian maiden, 
seated in a frail canoe and chanting a hymn 
to the Great Spirit. That was picturesque; 
that was as good use as the falling waters had 
ever been put to although severe upon the 
girl. But it was beautiful, and, perhaps, it 
was true! The aborigine had been driven 
from his ancestral tepee; maiden sacrifice had 
been abolished, like that other popular custom 
of the sutee in Hindustan; but the waters had 
flowed on and should swirl forever! 

Nikola Testa now promises a perfect solu- 
tion of the problem of energy transmission. 
He undertakes to deliver electrical energy.' 
without the help of wires, from one point to 
any other point upon the earth's surface, for 
domestic and commercial use. The Boer in 
Pretoria will be able to buy his house light 
and heat from Niagara. This marvel will 
give the final touch to aerial navigation! 
Nature will be harnessed with the electrical 
Hash and weather will be regulated by man 
instead of man being regulated by weather! 
Tesla is sure that all things now achieved by 
the use of coal can be better done by electricity, 
which means that all coal used will be con- 
verted into electrical energy at a. few centers 
and distributed from there. This will save 
!)().()()(),()()() tons of coal annually. He believes 
in harnessing every horsepower of waterfalls 
in this and other countries. Most original 
of all the students of electricity in this country 
is Nikola Tesla, son of a distinguished Greek 
clergyman. His mother was a famous in- 
ventor from whom he derived taste for me- 
chanic arts. Born at Smiljan, Lika, a border 
country of Austro-Ilungarv, he was educated 



in the elementary schools of his native place 
and graduated at Carlstadt, Croatia. 1873. 
Originally destined for the clergy, he pre- 
vailed upon his parents to send him to the 
Polytechnic School in Gratz, where for four 
years he studied mathematics, physics and 
mechanics; following with two years in philoso- 
phical studies at University of Prague, Bo- 
hemia. His practical career began in 1881, 
in Budapest, Hungary, where he made his 
hist electrical invention, a telephone repeater, 
and conceived the idea of his rotating-mag- 
netic field; thence he went to France and Ger- 
many, where he was successfully engaged in 
various branches of engineering and manu- 
facture; since 1SS4, in l". S.. of which he is a 
naturalized citizen. Author of numerous 
scientific papers and addresses. Among his 
inventions and discoveries are: System of 
arc lighting. 1886; Tesla Motor, and system of 
alternating current power transmission, pop- 
ularly known as 2-phase, 3-phase, multiphase 
and polyphase systems. 1888; system of elec- 
trical conversion and distribution by oscillatory 
discharges, 1889; generators of high frequency 
currents and effects of these. 1890; transmis- 
sion of energy through a single wire without 
return. 1891; the Tesla Coil or Transformer. 
1891; novel system of electric lighting by 
Tesla tubes. 1891; investigations of high fre- 
quency effects and phenomena. 1891-93; sys- 
tem of wireless transmission of intelligence, 
1893; mechanical oscillators and generators of 
electrical oscillations, 1894-95; researches and 
discoveries in radiations, material streams and 
emanations, 1896-98; high potential magnify- 
ing transmitter, 1897; system of transmission 
of energy by refrigeration, 1898; art of Tela- 
automatics, 1898-99; discovery of stationary 
electrical waves in the earth. 1899; burning of 
atmospheric nitrogen, and production of other 
electrical effects of transcending intensities, 
1899-1900; method and apparatus for magni- 
fying feeble effects, 1901-02; art of individual- 
ization, 1902-03; since 1903 chiefly engaged in 
development of his system of world-telegraphy 
and telephony, and the design of a large plant for 
the transmission of power without wires, to be 
erected at Niagara. I lis most important re- 
cent work is the discovery of a new mechani- 
cal principle, which he has embodied in a 
great variety of machines, as reversible gas 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



1!)" 




GEORGE S. GREENK, Jr 



ALLEN N. SPOONEB 



ERNEST P. GOODRICH 



and strain turbines, pumps, blowers, air com- 
pressors, water turbines, mechanical trans- 
formers and transmitters of power, hot air 
engines, etc. This principle enables the pro- 
duction of prime movers capable of develop- 
ing ten horsepower, or even more, for each 
pound of weight. By their application to 
aerial navigation, and the propulsion of ves- 
sels, high speeds are practicable. 

Improvement of the waterfront of the 
North River has been the chief thought of 
every Commissioner of Docks. The extreme 
width of the river being less than a mile, the 
dock-head line was fixed many years ago and 
the problem of lengthening the piers became 
one of purchasing land behind the bulkhead, 
most of which had been rilled in, and restoring 
to the river water space that had been taken 
from it. George S. Greene, Jr.. prepared 
elaborate maps forecasting the wharf system 
as it is to-day. Mr. Greene was born at Lex- 
ington. Ky.. November, 1837. and is a brother 
of Gen. Francis Vinton Greene. He entered 
Harvard, 1856, but left before graduation to 
study civil engineering under his father. He 
was assistant engineer on the Croton aqueduct; 
built several railroads in Cuba and managed 
copper mines on Lake Superior; became 
engineering chief of the Department of Docks. 
1875, and 1898 consulting engineer. Many 
valuable improvements in instruments used 
by the U. S. Coast Survey were made by him. 
The new Chelsea docks were planned by him 



and he has received entire credit for the same. 
They are objects of pride to every New 
Yorker. 

This city is one of the greatest fields in all 
the world for competent and experienced con- 
sulting engineers, a fact due to the enormous 
aggregation of capital centered here. All the 
great industries of this country have their New 
York offices, to which are attached the best 
engineering ability that money will hire. 
Among this class is Ernest P. Goodrich, who 
at the age of thirty-seven distinguished him- 
self as the chief engineer of the Bush Terminal 
and its affiliated companies. In that capacity 
he had charge of the construction of their 
$10,000,000 railroad and steamship ware- 
houses. Mr. Goodrich hails from Michigan, 
where he was born at Decatur, in 1874. He 
was city engineer of his home town at twenty 
years of age. He was prepared at the State 
Normal College, graduated at the University 
of Michigan as B.S., 1898, and C.E., 1900. 
He was commissioned by President McKinley 
a civil engineer in the Navy, serving principally 
at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He resigned 
to take up the work for the Bush Terminal 

Company above mentioned. Mr. G Irich 

has served as consulting engineer in various 
capacities for the Borough of Manhattan and 
serves the city at present in that line. He de- 
livered a course of lectures at Columbia Uni- 
versity on engineering subiects. His specialty 

is water front and dock engineering, manu- 
re I"* 



1!>S 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



facturing development and reinforced con- 
crete. He is a member of many scientific 
societies. 

In no one feature lias the great port of New 
Y>rk more noticeably advanced in its facilities 
for handling the vast commerce that comes 
hither from all parts of the world than in the 
improvement of its wharf system, which to-day 
compares favorably with that of any maritime 
city of the world. Especially has this develop- 
ment been noticeable on the North River, 
where, during the past few years, the munici- 
pality under the direction of the Commis- 
sioner of Docks has created a series of the 
longest and most capacious piers known any- 
where. The man responsible for the con- 
struction of the Chelsea piers, with their white- 
stone facades, is Allen Newhall Spooner, a 
graduate of Columbia School of Mines, as 
civil engineer. Mr. Spooner was born Octo- 
ber. 1844, in Jersey City. He began as a 
rodman and draughtsman for the Pennsyl- 
vania railroad. His family was related to 
Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine. 
His first experience in dealing with wharf 
construction was in 1887, when he became 
a supervising engineer for the Department of 
Docks and Ferries of Jersey City. Next, he 
was consulting engineer of the Passaic Valley 
District Sewerage and Drainage Commission; 
the Midland Railroad Terminal Company, 
of Staten Island; the New York Dock Com- 
pany; James Shewan <\- Sons' Dry Docks; 
New Yoik and College Point Ferry, and the 
Port Morris Terminal and Astoria Ferry. 
For 14 years Mr. Spooner had charge, as 
Division Engineer, of the Department of 
Docks of the pier and wharf system of the 
Fast River (Manhattan) , between the Battery 
and 125th street. Harlem River. 

These qualifications peculiarly designated 
him for the Commissionership of Docks, to 
which Mayor McClellan appointed him in 
1908. Mr. Spooner is a Democrat and a 
member of the Jersey City, Columbia and 
University clubs; the American Society of 
Civil Engineers and of the Masonic and Psi 
Ipsilon fraternities. 

Another Philadelphian who is at the head 
of a large manufacturing business, with head- 



quarters in New York, is Henry Robinson 
Towne, a mechanical engineer of international 
reputation. As president of the Merchants' 
Association of New York, an organization 
which commands the respect of every citizen 
of the metropolis, Mr. Towne is especially 
worthy of mention in this volume, as that 
association has accomplished more practical 
reforms affecting the average householder, 
business and commercial man than any other 
of its kind, —these results being attained by 
compelling the enforcement of all good laws 
upon which the common welfare depends. 

Mr. Towne's record as a mechanical en- 
gineer is very extensive. Born in Philadelphia 
in 1844, he was a student at the University 
of Pennsylvania for two years, and was given 
an honorary A.M. degree in 1887. He studied 
also at the Sorbonne, Paris, taking a course in 
physics, and in the office of Robert Briggs 
tor a special course m engineering. 

The vital step in his life was taken in 1868, 
when he became associated with Linus Yale, 
Jr., in the manufacture of locks and builders' 
hardware. Upon Mr. Yale's death, shortly 
afterwards. Mr. Towne became president of 
the Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company, 
whose extensive works, employing 3.000 peo- 
ple, are located at Stamford. Conn. He is a 
life member and ex-president of the American 
Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is the 
author of many valuable technical papers and 
treatises on mechanical subjects. 

Any beginner in the profession of civil en- 
gineering fortunate enough to secure several 
years' experience in the engineering depart- 
ment of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 
probably one of the best training schools in 
the world, has a start in his career that is to 
be envied. John A. Bensel. State Engineer, 
was born in New York City in 1863 and 
took a degree at Stevens Institute of Tech- 
nology, 1884; after which he at once secured 
a place on the held staff of the Aqueduct 
Commission of the City of New York, leaving 
that work to accept a position with the great 
railroad company above mentioned. Thus 
equipped, he becomes assistant engineer in 
the Department of Docks and during six 
years of service rose through the various 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



1!)!) 



grades to assistant engineer in charge of con- 
strnction, designing and building many of 
the great waterfront structures of the city. 
Meanwhile, lie was called to Philadelphia to 
design and execute stupendous waterfront 
improvements for the Girard estate. Mr. 
Bensel became engineering chief of the De- 
partment of Docks and Ferries of this city 
in 1898 and under his immediate direction the 
famous Chelsea piers were constructed. Hav- 
ing served as Chief Engineer for seven years. 



Company and was stationed at New Orleans, 
La. Later, lie was division engineer of the 
Xew York Subway and chief engineer of the 
Brooklyn Rapid 'Transit. lie was a partner 
of William Barclay Parsons when both were 
Consulting Engineers to Xew York City. 
Mr. Klapp went to the Spanish War as first 
lieutenant and quartermaster of the 2nd 
United States Volunteer Engineers and was 
promoted to the rank of Captain. He is a 
member of the American Society of Civil 




Capt. EUGENE KLAPP 



JOHN A. BENSEL 



WILLIAM 1J. M Al: KS 



he was appointed Commissioner of the De- 
partment, which position he held for two years. 
reorganizing the Staten Island and other 

DO 

ferry service. lie was made president of the 
Board of Water Supply in 1J)08, giving him 
direction of the new Aqueduct System by 
which water is to be brought from the Catskill 
Mountains. Mr. Bensel was elected State 
Engineer in November, 1910. 

" The House Beautiful," a magazine of 
laudable and valuable purpose, owes its ex- 
istence to Eugene Klapp, its founder, pub- 
lisher and editor for three years. Eugene 
Klapp was born in Orange. X. J., on May 
23, 1807. He studied engineering at the 
Columbia School of Mines, served as assist- 
ant engineer, engineer of maintenance and 
later as chief engineer of the South Side 
Rapid Transit Railroad in Chicago. He then 
became manager of the National Contracting 



Engineers and of Delta Psi. His clubs are the 
St. Anthony and Columbia University. 

William Dennis Marks is a Missourian, who 
has won exceptional prestige as a mechanical 
engineer and as the author of several text- 
hooks on engineering. He was born in St. 
Louis. 1849, and in 1871 was graduated from 
Yale with the degrees of Ph.B. and C.E. 
Afterward, he engaged in special studies in 
preparation for the profession he was destined 
to adorn. During the period 1871— '73 he was 
employed as practical engineer by railway and 
manufacturing corporations. lb" served for 
2 years as lecturer on mechanical engineering 
and later became Whitney professor of dy- 
namic engineering at the University of Penn- 
sylvania. Mr. Marks has held such important 
offices as President and chief engineer of the 
Edison Electric Light Company, and has 
acted as special consulting engineer and ex- 



200 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



pert in gas and electric lighting for New York, 
Buffalo and other large cities. He is an 
honorary life member of the Franklin Insti- 
tute of Philadelphia and belongs to the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society. 

Richard T. Dana, civil and consulting 
engineer, was graduated from the Sheffield 
Scientific School of Yale in 1896, taking the 
degree of Ph. B. in civil engineering. Mr. 
Dana has practiced his profession of consulting 
engineer with remarkable success. lie acted 
as assistant engineer of the Erie Railroad Com- 
pany for several years, since which time he has 
practiced independently. Mr. Dana is, at 
present, chief engineer of the Construction Ser- 
vice Company, and consulting engineer of 
the Danesville & Mount Morris Railroad 
Company. He served with the Connecticut 
Naval Militia and is a member of the Amer- 
ican Society of Civil Engineers and American 
Institute of Mining Engineers. Mr. Dana 
is a member of the New York Railroad and 
Yale clubs. 

Colonel Charles Warfield headed the dar- 
ing and successful party that performed the 
historic feat of burning the ship Peggy Stewart 
in Annapolis harbor. This family is one of 
the oldest of Maryland; its forebears came to 
America in !(>(>'{ and received grants of land, 
by Royal Patent, in Anne Arundel and How- 
ard counties. Lewis Warfield was horn in 
Baltimore in 1864. He was graduated from 
the United States Naval Academy in 1885, 
and taking up, as a specialty, the study of 
transportation engineering, served with the 
Baltimore & Ohio. Erie and Pennsylvania 
Railroads until 1901. During that time he 
was also vice-president and trustee of various 
street railroads. In 1!M)1 he became one of 
the three founders of the Donald Steamship 
Company, and was chosen vice-president of 
the Occidental Construction Company, en- 
gaged in the development of the Pacific (Oast 
of Mexico. He is a member of the New York 
Yacht Club. 

Dr. James Douglas, the mining engineer 
and railroad man is a native of the city of 
Quebec, where he was horn in 1837, and who 



has resided since IN?.} in the United States- 
The father of Dr. Douglas was a medical man, 
who for many years was one of the proprietors 
of the Beauport Asylum near Quebec, and 
one of the first men in Canada to introduce 
modern and humanitarian methods in the 
care and treatment of the insane. Dr. Doug- 
las took his B.A. degree at Queens University, 
Kingston, Ontario, in 1N5N. and completed 
his education at Edinburgh University. Until 
his migration to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, to 
take charge of the copper works there, he was 
Professor of Chemistry in Morrin College. 
Quebec. He is a member and has been twice 
president of the American Institute of Mining 
Engineers; he is also a member of the American 
Philosophical Society, the American Geograph- 
ical Society, the Society of Arts of London, 
the Iron and Steel Institute of London, and 
has received the gold medal of the Institution 
of Mining and Metallurgy of London, of 
which he is also a member. He is a trustee of 
the American Museum of Natural History of 
New York and of the General Memorial Hos- 
pital. The honorary degree of LL.D. was 
conferred upon him by McGill University. 
Dr. Douglas is the author of '"Old France in 
the New World," ''Canadian Independence and 
Imperial Federation," and was a Cantor Lec- 
turer of the Society of Arts. He is a member 
of the Century Association, the Engineers 
Club and the Adirondack League Club. 



In speaking of street names, one naturally 
asks : "' Who was Ann ?" This little thorough- 
fare was not always headquarters of cast-off 
material. With the surrounding territory Ann 
Street once formed a part of the first Dutch 
Governor's garden. Later Gov. Dongan got 
the property, and his heirs sold it in 1762 to 
Thomas White, one of the great merchants 
of the day. He cut the land up into building 
lots, and what more fitting monument could 
he pay to his wife than to name one of the 
streets for her! It was Mrs. Ann White who 
ceded to the city the little alley between Broad- 
way and Nassau Street known as Theatre 
Alley, reminiscent of the days when the pop- 
ular Park Theatre stood just above the Park 
Row Building overlooking the square. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



201 




CHAS. H. 7,\ II MH I: 



Ri IB I. B. STANTON 



IIU'IM W. PYE 



Another man who has grown with the de- 
velopment of the coal and iron industry in 
northeastern Pennsylvania is Charles II. Zehn- 
der, who. although nominally a New Yorker, 
is resting after a life of commercial activity 
at his country seat. Allenhurst, New Jersey. 
Born in Northumberland County. Penn., 
1856, he was educated at the public schools. 
He began an active business career as clerk 
in a national hank in his native common- 
wealth. In 1879 lie went to Berwick. Pa., 
with the Jackson & Woodin Manufacturing 
Company (carbuilders) , rising to the presi- 
dency of that corporation. In 1896 he he- 
came president of the Dickson Manufacturing 
Company of Scranton, remaining five years. 
during which time he assisted in organizing 
the Allis-Chahners Company, merging the 
machinery building interest of the Dickson 
corporation with the new company. He 
formed the Allegheny Ore <!v Iron Company 
of Virginia, l!)(h2, acquiring three blast fur- 
naces and valuable iron ore lands. This 
property was later sold and his interest trans- 
ferred to the bituminous coal and coke regions 
of West Virginia, where he became president 
of the Austen Coal & Coke Company. With 
two brotheis. he organized the Scranton Holt 
& Nut Company of Scranton, Pa., of which he 
is vice-president. He is a director in the fol- 
lowing corporations: Equitable Life Assur- 
ance Society. Empire Steel & Iron Company 
of Catasauqua, Empire Trust Company of 



New York, Union National Bank of Phila- 
delphia, a member of the American Institute 
of Mining Engineers, American Society of 
Mechanical Engineers, Union League clubs 
of New York and Philadelphia, the Lawyers'. 
Railroad and New York Athletic clubs of 
New York. 

Among the prominent mining engineers of 
this city, I must not overlook Robert Brewster 
Stanton, who has travelled in all parts of the 
world, including the Dutch Last Indies, ex- 
amining mineral deposits. Mr. Stanton was 
born in Woodville, Miss., August, 1846, and 
was valedictorian of the class of 1871 at 
Miami University, Ohio. There he secured 
Phi Beta Kappa and is also a member of the 
Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. His first work 
was as a levelinan on the original surveys for 
the Atlantic & Pacific railroad in Indian Ter- 
ritory; thence, he entered the construction 
department of the Cincinnati Southern rail- 
way; then became division and later chief 
engineer of the Dayton <K; Southeastern; next 
a division engineer of the Union Pacific rail- 
road from 'NO-'S-l — when he built the now 
famous "Georgetown Loop" in Colorado. 
Meanwhile, he had been devoting all spare 
time to study of milling engineering and. in 
1891, he switched to that profession, in which 
he has been successful. He has reported on 
mines throughout the United States. Canada 
and Mexico. Cuba and the Dutch Easl [ndies. 
As chief engineer of a proposed railroad 



202 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



down the Colorado River of the West, lie led. 
in l889-'90, t h<- second successful expedition 
thai ever passed through the Grand Canon 
of thai river, following Major Powell's first 

exploration of 1869. 

lie is a member of the Engineers' Club, 
American Society and the British Institution 
of Civil Engineers, American Institute of 
Mining Engineers, the British Institution of 
Mining and Metallurgy, and other societies. 

A prominent New York manufacturer of rail- 
way supplies entered his present field through 
the gateway of journalism. 1 refer to David 
Walter I've. Iioin in Brooklyn, November, 1870, 
and prepared for a business career at a local 
college. When fifteen years of age, he was 
a reporter on the stall' of the Argus; there- 
after engaging with the Pintsch Light Com- 
pany, thai supplied illumination on railway 
cars. There he developed much aptitude 
as purchasing agent and soon had entire 
charge of the commercial branch of the com- 
pany. In 1!)10 he wa> offered the presidency 
of the Tinted States Heal and Lighting Com- 
pany an amalgamation of the National Bat- 
tery Company and the Bliss Electric Car 
Lighting Company. Large factories for the 
construction of this lighl have recently been 
opened at Niagara Falls. Mr. I've has many 
social affiliations and is Fond of outdoor sports 

belonging to the New York Yacht, Crescent 
Athletic and Columbia Yacht clubs. He is a 
member of the Maritime Association of New 
York, the Japan Society and several other 
clubs. 



Thi' first time one hears Yandam Street, 
in Greenwich Village, mentioned, if he has 
had a pious bringing up. the name will cause 
a shock: bul a hasty run through the Dutch 
chronicles will unearth old Kip van Dam. 
who was somewhat of a man in his day. 

The origin of Marketfield Street, an ob- 
scure little lane leaving Broad below Beaver— 
the existence of which isn't known to one 
stock broker in a hundred — is clouded in 
antiquity. It was likely as not the market 
place in early Dutch days. The fort at the 
Battery and a few houses thereabouts were 
the germs of the present imperial city. 




JAMES V GUNN 



who blazed an entirely new trail in 
by announcing himself as "an indus- 



With the growth of mechanical inventions 
have appeared new professional activities and 
special nomeclature descriptive thereof. For 

e x a m ] i 1 e, marvelous 
strides in electrical 
science have rendered 
necessary a technique 
of its own. Mechani- 
cal devices have not 
been confined to any 
one field, however, and 
demand for expert 
opinion regarding the 
projected investment of 
large sums of money 
in manufacturing en- 
terprises, together with 
advice as to proper lo- 
calities for mills or 
points of distribution, 
induced a thoroughly equipped scientific mind 
to undertake the creation of an absolutely 
novel profession. . refer to James Newton 
( > iiiin. 
science 

trial engineer." meaning thereby "an author 
itv and advisor in production engineering.' 
Not only did Mr. Gunn give to his new pro- 
fession its name hut he developed it into a 
highly successful achievement, proving it to be 
a branch of engineering that devoted itself to 
various factors of production in industrial 
fields with the chief object of increasing effi- 
ciencv. .lames Newton Gunn was horn at 
Springfield, Ohio, in 1867, and obtained his 
preliminary education at the public schools of 
that city. He then studied under private 
tutors and spent a year in Europe, investigat- 
ing manufacturing methods and labor con- 
ditions, lie is a lecturer on industrial organi- 
zation at Harvard University. His ancestors 
came to Dorchester. Mass.. in 1635; and a 
son of Thomas Gunn, from whom he is 
directly descended, moved to Milford, Conn. 
He is a member of the Lotos. Engineers', City. 
Midday clubs of New York, and of the Colo- 
nial at Cambridge, Mass. 

If John William Rapp, the president of the 
United States Metal Products Company, had 
believed that "opportunity knocks hut once 
at a man's door." he would not hold the im- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



203 



portanf position in commercial life thai he 
docs. Mr. Rapp took hold of many oppor- 
tunities and worked upon them. Some failed. 
Iiul that did nol prevent his trying another; 
he mastered his trade as a sheet metal worker. 
beginning as a hoy helper at the bench and 
rising to the top rung of the ladder as expert 
workman; he then opened a modest little 
workshop in East 66th Street, for the manu- 
facture of skylights and roofing; he foresaw in 




JOHN w. RAPP 

the fast growing building industry, as apart- 
ment houses seemed to spring up over night, 
that for the public safety the old fashioned 
wooden doors and windows would have to be 
replaced by something more substantial as 
fires swept away many of the new buildings. 
"Doors and windows must be fireproof" he 
said, "and sheet metal is the material for it." 
Acting upon the thought, he produced a few 
samples and the contractors anil builders at 
once saw that the great problem of the fire- 
proofing industry was solved. From that time 
on the firm of John W. Rapp & Company had 
all the orders they could handle: "the acorn 
had grown to an oak tree." and when the United 
States Metal Products Company was incor- 
porated. John W. Rapp was its president, and 



to-day il may be said thai there is not an im- 
portant modern building put up in New York 
City that has not some of its material within 
its walls. 

Recently, the new Vanderbilt Hotel caught 
lire on the fourth floor. 'The house had just 
opened to the public and was well filled with 
guests. The corridor was piled with new 
furniture wrapped in burlap and excelsior 
the niosl inflammable material -and was a 
Seething mass of Haines when discovered. 
What happened? The furniture was burned, 
but the lire died where il originated. Il could 
not pass the hollow steel doors of the corridors 
and elevator shafts of the manufacture of the 
United States Metal Products Company. Oc- 
cupants of the floors above and below the (ire 
did not know there was a fire. With the ex- 
ception of the loss of the furniture no damage 
was done. 

'The construction of a building may be 
perfect," said Mr. Rapp, "but as long as wood 
is used for doors and windows or partitions 
the danger will exist. Our new method of 
construction eliminates wood entirely for all 
interior trim; the windows, doors, partitions, 
wainscoting, etc.. are made of indestructible 
material — fireproof, absolutely so, beyond ques- 
tion. Every room is a unit in itself and if a 
fire starts in it. it is confined to the rooms in 
which it originated. That's the whole story." 

The manufacturing plant of the company is 
at College Point on the Sound, occupying five 
blocks square and the executive and general 
offices are at 203-205 West 40th Street. New 
York City. The company has branches in 
Philadelphia. Washington, Boston and San 
Francisco, and owns and controls seventy or 
more patents for metal trim and appliances 
for buildings. Mr. Rapp is a director in the 
Colpo Realty Company: the R. & J. Realty 
Company; the Arsca Building Company; 
Star Carborator and Supply Company; Re- 
liance Roller Rearing Company; Member of 
the Building Trade Association; trustee of the 
Flushing Hospital; member of the Catholic 
('lull. Queens Borough Chamber of Com- 
merce; the Shinnecock Club. Whitestone and 
Knickerbocker Yacht Clubs and the College 
Point Club. 



204 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




1:1 i\V \K1> G. BURGES 



Horn iii the city of Albany in 1N44. Edward 
Oliver Burgess was educated in the public 
schools of Jersey City and began the battle of 

life as a boy with the 
jewelry firm of Alex- 
ander McDougal in 
Cortland! Street. 
After several years of 
experience that one 
does not appreciate at 
the time but value in 
later life. Edward G. 
Burgess went with 
Paul ( i r o u t with 
whom his father was 
associated in the grain 
business. T h i s has 
I) e e n his occupation 
through life, and he has 
achieved an unusual 
degree of success there- 
in. Mr. Burgess is now president of the In- 
ternational Elevating Company; has served 
several years as vice-president and president 
of the Produce Exchange. lie is a member of 
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. American 
Museum of Natural History, Sons of the Amer- 
ican Revolution. National Geographic and 
New York Botanical Societies; he belongs to 
the New York Athletic. Montclair Arts and 
Montclair Club, and is a founder of the Essex 
County Country Club. 

The Ackers are a family that has largely 
retained the blood of its Dutch ancestry. 'The 
first member of this family in America landed 
here in 1663. David D. Acker, who died in 
I 888, established the firm of Acker, Merrall & 
Condit, whose name is a household word. His 
eldest son. (diaries L. Acker, succeeded him 
and died in 1891. This mans son. Charles 
Livingston Acker, was born in 1N72. was 
educated at the University Grammar School 
and was graduated therefrom in 1<S,S!). In 
October of that year he entered the service 
of the above firm, but a year after the with- 
drawal of the Acker family from the business, 
in 1891, resigned. In 1907, in connection 
with Augustus B. Carrington, Mr. Acker 
organized the Manhattan Mortgage Company. 
He is treasurer and a director of this firm. 
Mr. Acker also was one of the organizers of 




the Guarantee Mortgage Company, of which 
he is a director, a member of the Executive 
Committee and Treasurer. He was for some 
time a member of Company H, Seventh Regi- 
nient. 

It is pleasant to read poetry about the sea; 
but it is a different matter to wrest from its 
waters a living. 

The ocean is the greatest hunting ground 
in the world. Its waters outside the three- 
mile limit do not belong to any man or nation. 

Hunters of the sea have 
been famous since time 
began, but providers of 
sea food for the hungry 
public are those who 
merit most attention 
from a domestic view 
point. Walter E. Ash- 
croft was born in Eng- 
land in 1873, came to 
this city as a boy and 
was educated at Trin- 
ity School. II e e n - 
gaged in the wholesale 
fish business and is now 
president of Warner & 
Prankard, vice-presi- 
dent of the New York Fish ( ompany and sec- 
retary of the Continental Fish Company, the 
three places located in the wholesale fish 
market — Warner & Prankard at No. 22 Fulton 
Market, the New York Fish Company at No. 
15 Fulton Market, and the Continental Fish 
Company at No. 26 Fulton Market. In re- 
ligion he is an Episcopalian, and in politics a 
Republican. 

On the east side of Broadway, from Maiden 
Lane above Fulton, was the ancient Van 
Tienhoven farm. Most of it finally became 
the property of an association of five shoe- 
makers and tanners and is popularly known 
as the Shoemakers' pasture. Most prominent 
of these was John Harpending, whose home- 
stead was on the corner of Maiden Lane and 
Broadway. From him John Street gets its 
name, and the valuable holdings of the Dutch 
Reformed Church in that locality, between 
Broadway and William Street, come from his 
bequesl to that denomination of the greater 
part of his property. 



WALTEB K iSHCROFT 



THE liOOK of NEW YORK 



205 




\VI I. 1.1 AM .1 . G A \ NOR 
Mayor of New York City 

From ;i recenl snapshot taken while addressing an audience 
on city affairs 



Many of our city streets were named after 
the War of 1812 in honor of warriors who 
were prominent in that conflict. Perry is 
an example. On the east side there is quite 
a batch of these 1812 war hero thoroughfares, 
including Forsyth, named for Col. Forsyth, 
wounded in Canada: Chrystie, for Lieut. Col. 
John Chrystie, killed at the Niagara frontier; 
Eldridge, for Lieut. Eldridge, scalped in 
Canada: Allen, for Lieut. William II. Allen, 
wounded in the naval fight between the Argus 
and the British ship Pelican; Ludlow, for 
Lieut. Ludlow, killed in action between the 
Chesapeake and the Shannon; Pike, for Gen. 
Pike, killed in the attack on Toronto in IS]:;. 
Worth Street was so named in honor of Gen. 
Worth, killed in the Mexican War. It sup- 
planted the earlier name of Anthony, after 
Anthonv Rutgers, through whose farm it ran. 




11, II TOPAK'V \\ 



Among New ^ ork's citizens hailing from 
the Orient none is more highly esteemed than 
Hayozoun Hohannes Topakyan, Consul Gen- 
eral of Persia at this 
port. I Ie is an Arme- 
nian, born at Sa/aria, 
T u rk e y , November, 
1864, and is a descend- 
ant of aii ancient Ar- 
menian family. Having 
completed preliminary 
studies in his native 
town, he attended the 
American college at 
Bardizak to learn Eng- 
lish. After mastering 
the details of trade with 
his father, he removed 
to Constantinople and 
became a commission 
merchant. Coming to the United States on 
business, he was so pleased with American 
institutions that he decided to remain. He 
leached New York in INN?, and. in a 
modest way, began the importation of Persian, 
Turkish and India rues. His business, based 
upon absolute fairness in dealing, has steadily 
grown until M r. Topakyan is to-day the largest 
private importer of Eastern rugs. In recog- 
nition of his services in introducing the weaves 
of Persia to this country, the Shah designated 
him as Imperial Commissioner for Persia at 
the Chicago World's Fair. The Persian and 
Ottoman pavilion at the Exhibition was built 
at Mr. Topakyan's personal expense and he 
received the thanks of the Commissioners and 
President Cleveland for his labors in behalf 
of the great fail'. 

He was awarded forty-eight diplomas and 
an equal number of medals for the superiority 
of his display of Oriental goods. lb' was 
decorated by the Persian. Turkish and Ven- 
ezuelan Governments. From Persia he re- 
ceived the Imperial Order of "The Lion and 
the Rising Sun;'* from Turkey, the "Magi- 
diva." and from Venezuela, the "Buste del 
Lisuetor." He was also informed a short 
time ago by the Persian Legation at Washing- 
ton that they had received a communication 
from his Highness, Mohtachemos-Saltaneh, 
Minister of Foreign Affairs at Teheran. Persia 



206 



THE HOOK at NEW YORK 



informing the Legation that the Imperial Gov- 
ernment had conferred upon Consul-Genera] 
Topakyan an imperial gold decoration for his 
long and valuable services. It is stated that 
no Consul has ever before received such high 
decorations. 

The Academic Society of International His- 
tory of France has also recently conferred the 
gold medal of the society upon Mr. Topakyan 
in recognition of his efforts in Oriental re- 
search. 

Among the many other posts of honor that 
Mr. Topakyan has been called upon to fill is 
that of the honorary vice-presidency of the 
International Peace Forum, of which John 
Wesley Mill is president and of which, also, 
Wm. II. Tat't is honorary president. 

As evidence of his devotion to this republic, 
Mr. Topakyan, in L907, presented to the 
United States, to be hung in the White House, 
a Persian rug worth $50,000- one of the finest 
specimens ever brought to this country. Its 
texture is of imperial silk, marvelously woven 
and set with a multitude of rubies, pearls. 
turquoise and other precious stones. The gift 
was accepted by President Roosevelt and it 
now hangs in a massive mahogany frame upon 
a wall of the White House. 

Mr. Topakyan lives in the Summer at 
"Persian Court," Morristown, X. .1.. a typical 
Oriental home, handsomely decorated and 
furnished with Eastern materials. He is high- 
ly philanthropic. I have learned that he sup- 
ports twenty-eight orphan children. As a 
leader in the Armenian colony, he has been a 
constant worker for the amelioration of con- 
ditions among his former countrymen. Since 
becoming an American, he has joined the Re- 
publican party and is active in politics. He 
is a member of many clubs and social organi- 
zations. 

Were it not for the policy long ago adopted 
by Trinity Church to give the names of its 
Wardens and Vestrymen to many streets as 
they were laid out from time to time through 
the broad acres of its church farm more than 
one of the great leaders in the early mercan- 
tile and social life of the city would now lie 
forgotten. These commemorate the activities 
of Gabriel Ludlow. Matthew Clarkson, Col. 



Bayard, John Reade, Joseph Murray. John 
Chambers, Stephen De Lancey, Robert Watts, 
Elias Desbrosses, Edward Laight, Dr. John 
Charlton, Humphrey Jones. Anthony Lis- 
penard, Gov. Morgan Lewis. Thomas Barrow. 
Jacob Leroy, Frank Dominick, John Clark, 
Rufus King, the Rev. Dr. Beach, and that 
worthy old Dutchman Rip van Dam. 

There are many self-made men in this big 
city; an example is found in the case of Victor 
A. Harder, born in Manhattan, 1S47, and 

educated at the public 
schools. He started 
work as a bookkeeper 
with Mayor Lane in 
1869, soon developing 
into a traveling sales- 
man, where he attained 
much success. He se- 
cured an interest in the 
manufacturing business 
in 1876 when the firm 
name was changed to 
Mayor Lane & Co. 
Since that time Mr. 
Harder has bought out 
victor \ harder his partner and made a 

corporation of the busi- 
ness. He explains his success only upon the 
grounds that he "got to work and hus- 
tled." He is president of the Essex Foundry, 
Newark. N. J.; the Powhattan Brass & Iron 
Works, Charleston, W. Va.; Mayor Lane & 
Co., and the Victor A. Harder Realty & Con- 
struction Co.. New York City. Mr. Harder 
is a 32d degree Mason, a member of the Mon- 
tauk, Riding and Driving and Prospect Gun 
clubs. 

At this time, when doctors and paymasters 
are scrambling for the privilege of describing 
themselves as Captains and Rear Admirals, 
it is gratifying to find an old Navy officer who 
when he asked for retirement from the 
Naval Militia of New York insisted upon re- 
taining the title of Commodore, which he bore 
in the Naval Militia, instead of acquiring a 
higher one. In a remarkable letter which 
Commodore Jacob William Miller has sent to 
Governor John A. l)ix. he said that experience 
of twenty years in the I nited Stales Navy 




THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



207 




KK'HAIUU' VILLI 



JiiHS H. FLAGLER 



LAUREN .1. DRAKE 



led him to believe the grade of Rear Admiral 
should he bestowed only upon those who are 
to fill executive positions ;it sea. and that it 
should he restricted to officers of the regular 
service commanding fleets. The title of Com- 
modore being traditionally an honorable one. 
he deemed it a great privilege to he allowed 
to retain it. Commodore Miller was horn in 
Morristown, X. J.. June. 1847, son of a United 
States Senator from that state. He entered 
the Naval Academy, f 8(5.'}. and was graduated. 
1S()7. The following twenty years were passed 
in service in all parts of the world. Dur- 
ing the winter of IS??, he was on board the 
"vandalia" when General Grant visited the 
Levant on his trip around the world. On 
resigning from the Navy in 18S,'5. he became 
identified with railroads. In 1889, he was 
elected president of the Providence & Ston- 
ington Steamship Company; later he became 
vice-president of the New England Naviga- 
tion Company, which controlled all the Sound 
steamers; resigning this post in 1!t(l!). he has 
since been vice-president of the Cape Cod 
Construction Company. He is a member of 
the University, Century, Naval Academy 
Alumni and many other clubs and societies. 
Playing an important part in the industrial 
history of the country. John II. Flagler has 
capped his achievements by shifting to com- 
mercial lines and directing the affairs of 
liegeman & Co.. which probably controls 
the world's largest amalgamation of wholesale 
and retail drug and chemical stores. 



Mr. Flagler was born in Cold Springs, 
Putnam County, New York, and was edu- 
cated at the Academy of Paterson. N. Y. I lis 
early experience was with Haldane & Co.. 
maternal uncles, who conducted an iron busi- 
ness. He then organized the firm of John 
II. Flagler & Co., and started the manufacture 
of tubing at Fast Boston. This firm event- 
uallv became the National Tube Works and 
was removed to Pennsylvania, being finally 
absorbed by the United States Steel Corpora- 
tion. 

Mr. Flagler is an earnest yachtsman and has 
been connected with the American and At- 
lantic Yacht chilis. He is also a member of 
the New York Yacht. Railroad. Lawyers, 
Lotos, and Engineers' clubs of New York, 
and the New York Historical Society and 
the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

From office boy to manager of the Marine 
Department of the Standard Oil Company, 
and to stockholder of that gigantic corporation. 
is the accomplishment of Richard C. Veit. 
He was born in New York City. November 17 
1855, and at the age of thirteen years entered 
the employ of the company as an office boy 
at three dollars per week, rising gradually 
through many responsible positions until be 
reached his present place. He is. in addition, 
interested in several industrial concerns and 
is vice-president of the J. Hood Wright 
Memorial Hospital. 

Mr. Veil is a patr >f St. Mark's Hospital 

and is a member of the American Museum of 



208 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




Natural History, the New York Zoological 
Society, the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, the Lotus Club and the New York 
and Atlantic Yacht clubs. 

Nearly a half century spent with the Quincy 
Mining ( lompany of Lake Superior, Michigan, 
has made William H. Todd a notable figure 

in the copper mining 
industry of the United 
States. 

Mr. Todd was born 
at Cambridge, Mass., 
June 15, 1837, the son 
of John Neatby and 
Julia (Parsons) Todd, 
and was educated in 
the public schools there 
and in Brooklyn. He 
\\ cut to II o u g h t o n 
County, Mich., in 1859, 
as a clerk at the Quincy 
Mine. During 1 S(!4 

WILLIAM R. TODD .,,„, ] X05. lie WHS ill tlw 

Navy as clerk to ('apt. 
G. II. Scott, U. S. Navy, senior officer in com- 
mand of the United States blockading fleet 
off Charleston, S. ('.. serving on the ships 
"Canandaigua" and "John Adams." After the 
war he operated oil wells in Kentucky and in 
1869 was elected secretary and treasurer of the 
Quincy Mining Company, with headquarters 
in New York City. In 1902 he was made 
president of that corporation which position 
he has since held. 

A man who has attained prominence in the 
oil industry is Lauren J. Drake, who was 
born in Concord. Erie County, N. Y., Jan- 
uary 29, 1842. He was educated in the public 
schools of Buffalo and at the Springville 
Academy and at the age of twenty-two re- 
moved to the oil fields of Pennsylvania and 
became a conductor on the Oil ( 'reek Railroad. 
In LS7.5 he removed to Keokuk, la., and from 
thence to Omaha, Neb., to become genera] 
manager of the Consolidated Tank Lines 
Company. 



He was in 1896 made general manager of 
the business in the nine states comprising the 
Standard Oil Company, of Indiana, and in 
1!)0 L 2 was called to the company's office in 
New York City. He is a director of the Stand- 
ard Oil Company, of N. J., and vice-president 
of the Standard Oil Company, of Indiana and 
the Galena Signal Oil Company. He is also 
president of the Standard Oil Company, of 
Kentucky. 

Mr. Drake is a member of the Union League 
Club of Chicago and the Essex County Coun- 
try ( Hub of New Jersey. 

Customs house brokerage is one which calls 
for exceptional qualities and experience. Mar- 
shall Joseph Corbett, one of the leaders in 

this business, is the de- 
scendant of old and 
honored American fam- 
ilies on both sides. 
Born in 1843 in Brook- 
dale. Pa., the first note- 
worthy event in his ca- 
reer was his enlistment 
for service in the Civil 
War. Mr. Corbett has 
to his credit participa- 
tion in some of the most 
historic actions, includ- 
ing ( 'ha ncellorsville, 
Gettysburg, Wauhat- 
chie. the Atlantia cam- 
paign and "Sherman's 
March to the Sea." 
Leaving the army upon the declaration of 
peace with the brevet rank of Major, conferred 
for meritorious service, he became eventually 
a clerk in the U. S. Appraiser's Department. 
Rising to the post of examiner and assistant 
appraiser of merchandise of the port of New- 
York. Mr. Corbett has become an expert in 
customs usages and regulations as well as in 
the science of appraisement. Consequently, 
upon (putting the service after twenty-two 
years' experience, in 1892, he was in an excep- 
tional position to build up the successful busi- 
ness that he has. 




MARSHALL .!< 'S. CORBETT 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



209 



CHAPTER XXI 



ECHOES OF THREE WARS 




)S a guest of John Russell 
Young, 1 visited the battlefield 
of Gettysburg in the fall of 
1894, and walked with General 
E. P. Alexander over the half 
mile of up-hill land, crossed by 
Pickett's men in their immortal 
charge against the Federal position at the top 
of that slope. Although .'51 years had passed, 
a memorable incident occurred after reaching 
the crest of the hill. 

Upon a granite l>ase stands a mammoth 
open hook. The monument hears the in- 
scription: "Highvvater Mark of the Con- 
federacy." Upon one page of that big bronze 
volume are set down the names of the Federal 
commanders on that bloody Held; upon the 
other page are the names of the Confederate 
chieftains. 

When the visitors looked, behold General 
Alexander's name stood immediately below 
those of Longstreet and Lee! lie had com- 
manded the artillery that covered the assault 
by Pickett's men — a charge felt to he hopeless 
when ordered. General Alexander heard the 
command delivered to Pickett by an aide from 
Longstreet. Years afterwards it was said 
General Lee never approved of the wanton 
destruction of life; about this General Alex- 
ander was uninformed. It was the forlorn 
hope, after the checking of Stuart's cavalry 
in the sunken road, behind the same elevated 
ridge -a continuation of Cemetery Hill. In 
'The Confederate War," Eargleston says: 

Do ■ 

'The story of Pickett's charge may now he 
told to Northern ears as surely sympathetic 
with the heroism shown in that world-famous 
action as are any ears at the South." 

Another monument atop that hill causes 
the blood to tingle; if is erected to General 
Lewis Addison Armistead. a Confederate, 
who actually broke through the thin Federal 
line defending the crest, and was killed (line 



rods inside. Busy as the defenders were al 
I he time — for the enemy was then a I arm's 
length strenuous efforts were made to capture 
Armistead alive. He was frantically slashing 
and lunging at everybody within reach, hut 
not a Federal gun was raised to shoot him. 
He sneered at demands to surrender; a soldier 
undertook to disarm him by bayonet fencing, 
so sincere was admiration for his bravery. 
Report differs as to how Armistead was killed; 
he was not deliberately shot. The accepted 
theory of Federal soldiers, at that danger point 
during the terrible crisis, is that a fragmenl 
of shell brought him down. There stands 
his monument, and old Federals, as well as 
Confederates, get damp in the eves when they 
gather before it. General Alexander only saw 
that final grapple of North and South at 
Gettysburg from a distance. He was in the 
valley, overseeing the service of the field guns, 
the roar of which must have shut out the 
unearthly shouts of assailants and defenders or 
shrieks of the dying. A revelry of death 
was in progress upon that field! 

When I read of the unveiling of the statue to 
the glorious Lawton, the man who won the 
only fight at Santiago de Cuba, I remembered 
his conduct there, as described by Major- 
General Joseph C. Breckinridge, at Old Point 
Comfort, within an hour of landing from the 
transport that had brought him home. Law- 
ton was the Leonidas of that battle! 

I wish I could reproduce the lire and the 
vigor with which General Breckinridge recited 
the first complete story of that two-days' 
fight. We wore seated in one of the sun par- 
lors of the Hotel Chamberlin, Breckinridge 
walking about the uncarpeted apartment. lie 
had been talking for forty minutes aboul I he 
difficulties that confronted General Shaffer — 
difficulties that Shafter afterward described 
to me. when I had a talk with him aboard the 
"Mohawk" at Fort Pond Bay ami he made that 



210 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



memorable utterance: "The men who ordered 
a summer campaign in a fever-infested country 
are responsible!" 

"It has not been told; but the attaek upon 
San Juan Hill failed!" said General Breck- 
inridge, speaking solemnly. 'The Spaniards 
were intrenched in most modern fashion- 
meaning they had burrowed in the earth. 
Instead of throwing dirt in front of them, they 
had placed it behind them. They had solid 
earth between them and our bullets. Quite 
a difference! As for our men. they stood in 
the open. Each American soldier was like 
a savage, and represented only what he was 
worth in shoe leather, as a mark for Spanish 
marksmen. Here was the problem: We 
wanted the San Juan earthworks, but the El 
Caney blockhouse on our Hank must be 
captured first. 

"John Chaffee was the sublime figure of 
the night of June 30. He got his men splen- 
didly intrenched, personally supervising every 
detail. He didn't sit down, much less sleep. 
And this was wise, because we had determined 
to assault San Juan Hill a position that 
would be called an impregnable position by 
every writer on the art of war since the repeat- 
ing arm has come into universal use. Chaffee 
knew as well as did Lawton what the task 
meant! His men made pits in which they 
'covered themselves with the planet'! The 
little hill of earth that the old-time soldier 
threw in front of his trench was not a pro- 
tection; it was a mark! 

'The El Caney blockhouse was taken by 
assault early next day (July 1): and after 
that position on the right had been secured. 
Lawton was to act with the other two divis- 
ions in delivering a swinging, solar-plexus 
blow. lie had gone over the ground on the 
map during the night of June 30 and by 
reconnaissance in the early morning that fol- 
lowed. Everything depended upon Lawton! 
We were short of artillery, which was im- 
perative for Lawton's proper support, in case 
he encountered stubborn resistance. This 
aid he had every right to expect, because the 
Spaniards were admirably placed in rifle 
pits, constructed, as I have said, with highest 
military art. 

"After the capture of the fort at El Caney 



came a hitch: troops at that point were vir- 
tually called off. To have obeyed orders 
would have meant an abandonment of a des- 
perate Kit of success, —an act humiliating to 
every officer and man engaged in the move- 
ment. The courier passed down the line until 
he reached Lawton's division. No sooner 
had this man heard the orders than, his face 
aglow with the fire of battle. Lawton ex- 
claimed: 

' I can't (put !' 

'The serious problem was put up to me," 
continued Breckinridge, "and I said: 'You 
must take the village, also.' That was done 
in thirty minutes. Many deeds of bravery 
occurred during that first day's fight; but 1 
was not a personal witness to them. The 
attack on San Juan by Hawkins had failed 
and the fact was generally known throughout 
both armies. 

'The morning of July 2 broke clear and 
beautiful, with Lawton's division on the righl 
and Rates' independent brigade on the left 
of a position everywhere beleaguered. Our 
men on the hill crest were still there, chiefly 
in holes in the ground, dug during the night; 
but the heart of every officer and every man 
in the plain below throbbed with an ardent 
desire to go to the support of comrades in 
such a forlorn position. In the early morning 
light. Hawkins could be seen recklessly ex- 
posing himself to flying bullets. 

"After such breakfast as only the more 
fortunate of us could eat. serious alarm arose 
as to whether we had not advanced beyond 
reach of our supplies. Remember, the roads 
were mere torrent paths, through which 
wagons could not be drawn, and the Spanish 
artillery on the heights above us covered all 
the middle ground across which stores would 
have to be transported. All day long the 
next move was canvassed. Troops at the 
front hadn't a thing to eat except what they 
carried on their backs. Our forces spent that 
entire day in the face of the enemy, but there 
wasn't any fighting. To send the main bod) 
to the support of Hawkins and to attempt to 
carry the heights by storm would have pro- 
duced a catastrophe, with which Skobelolf's 
attack upon the Gravitza redoubt before 
Plevna, in September, 1877, would have been 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



211 



trifling. A grave council of officers assembled 
that night at El Paso; but a conclusion was 
not reached. 

'*( )n the morning of July :> the situation was 
hazardous! Several men of tried and indis- 
putable courage hesitated to advise. Haw- 
kins* position was perilous. Withdrawal, 
which every officer of experience felt in his 
heart would have been good tactics, was not 
considered, because the next day would be 
July 4. We knew nothing about the splendid 
victory of the American fleet off the harbor's 
mouth! But the Spaniards knew and a truce 
was proposed. This was followed on our pari 
by a peremptory demand for unconditional 
surrender. It was acceded to." 

"Do you mean that the demand for sur- 
render was made at a moment of peril to the 
American troops.-" 1 asked, amazed. 

"1 mean that we demanded Toral's sur- 
render at a time when our retreat appeared 
to be imperative," answered General Breck- 
inridge. 

The lesson of this statement woidd appeal' 
to be Lawton won the first day's fight, that 
the second day's battle was without decisive 
result, and that the fleet under Admiral Samp- 
son brought about the surrender of the land 
forces of Spain at Santiago. 

Sad so gallant a man as Lawton subsequent- 
ly lost his life in the Philippines, when he 
possessed so many of the elements of a great 
commander! He ought to have a monument 
on the Prado at Havana, because his heroic 
firmness, at a critical moment, made the 
victory at Santiago de Cuba possible. 

When the arrival of the Spanish prisoners 
from Santiago was expected at Portsmouth. 
X. H.. I was specially engaged by the World 
to meet the transport "St. Louis." which was 
bringing Admiral Cervera and .''■'-20 men, and 
to describe the landing. I was also expected 
to get an account of tin- voyage, because most 
of the other metropolitan newspapers had cor- 
respondents aboard. It was not a task for a 
novice, but I felt confident of success until I 
attempted to procure a pass for the incoming 
ship from Rear-Admiral Carpenter at the 
Kittery Navy Yard. He refused to aid me 
in any manner, although I enlisted the good 



offices of an old friend. Col. James Forney, 
I . S. M. ('. 

In New Hampshire's only port all incom- 
ing vessels are boarded by an official known 
as a "Harbor-Master." He lives at New- 
castle, southeastern entrance to the harbor. 
I drove live miles to that village, installed 
myself at its only hotel, and secured the 
cooperation of its proprietor in order that 1 
might make the acquaintance of the harbor- 
master. That official was invited to the 
hotel and joined me in the cafe. Before mid- 
night, by means of stories and good cheer, I 
had thoroughly ingratiated myself with the 
retired ship-captain who held the important 
post of harbor-master. By one o'clock I 
had secured an appointment as deputy harbor- 
master, entitling me to go in the boat with 
my chief when he boarded the "St. Louis." 

That was an anxious night, because the 
vessel was expected any hour. 

The big transport steamed into port the 
following afternoon ; the deputy harbor-master 
was the second man to hoard her. following 
his chief up the gangway with all the assump- 
tion of authority he was able to affect and 
returning the salute of the officer of the deck. 

In my official capacity I explored every 
corner of the ship, as authorized to do: visited 
the deck stateroom of the captive Spanish 
admiral and obtained, by inquiry among the 
younger officers of the vessel, complete details 
of the voyage. Having been informed that Cap- 
tain Goodrich, the commanding officer of the 
"St. Louis," had issued an order forbidding 
anybody to address Admiral Cervera unless 
spoken to by him, an interview was not at- 
tempted: but I stood very near to him hoping 
that he might speak to me. That was what 
happened! I had learned my Castilian at 
Madrid years before, but some of it had been 
retained. 

The Admiral was gazing at a windmill on 
the hills behind Kittery. Its arms were sw ing- 
ing like those on the little red mills of his 
native La Mancha, when he turned and im- 
pulsively addressed the supposed official: 

"Que terano es este?" (What land is this ?) 
pointing beyond the Kittery Navy Yard. 

" f.r Estado tic Maine!" I replied. 



2 W 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Admiral Cervera started. He had heard 
the word "Maine" before, amid the fire and 
smoke at Santiago! 

"I don't comprehend," he said, slowly. 

"The men go ashore in Maine; but von 
and Captain Enlate will be taken to An- 
napolis," I explained. 

"Ah!" sighed the captive hero; "Aora, 
itiendo!" (Now. I understand). 

I had the climax of my five-column despatch, 
and the horses that dragged my carriage 
through the deep sand to the telegraph wire 
at Portsmouth did not go fast enough to suit 
me. It was "a first pager," sure enough. 

The Plain of Abraham is to be made a reser- 
vation of the Dominion of Canada. Why this 
hasn't been done long ago is inexplicable. It 
is the one bit of land at Quebec really historic. 
Every visitor to the fine old city takes a calash 
in order to ride up the hill back of the citadel 
for a walk over the Plain of Abraham. Or, 
if thev are stopping at the Chateau Frontenac, 



they will walk along the Dufferin terrace to 
the long wooden stairway and ascend thereby 
to the weedy field where a crucial battle be- 
tween English and French was fought. 

To my way of thinking, one of the finest 
emblems of human brotherhood in this wide 
world is the monument in the little cemetery 
upon the Quebec Heights to Wolfe and 
Montcalm. The tall obelisk is intended to 
honor the two heroes equally. In my travels 
1 never have stood before any one monument 
that produced the same mental effect as does 
this shaft. It is the only instance that has 
crossed my orbit in which the English have 
done full justice to a fallen foe. When one 
remembers how Napoleon was treated at St. 
Helena, and how the Colonial prisoners were 
allowed to rot in the ships in New York harbor, 
the touch of humanity seems more remarkable. 

Visit the held of Waterloo and search in 
vain for any British recognition of Blucher's 
vital aid to Wellington! 




THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



213 



CHAPTER XXII 



EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION 




HE Metropolis has always asso- 
ciated preeminence in the Law 
with Philadelphia. The Qua- 
ker City had its Brewster, Shars- 
wood, Brown. Cassidy and 
Dougherty at the same era in 
which Clinton. Brady, Graham, 
Evarts, Carter, Vanderpoel and Townsend 
upheld up the dignity of the New York bar. 
There were many other able lawyers in the 
two cities. All these pleaders have passed to 
a higher court. Joseph II. Choate had come 
From Boston with a letter of introduction to 
William M. Evarts bearing the potent signa- 
ture of Rufus Choate. Judge A. J. Ditten- 
hoel'er had already earned his title and was 
as active as he is to-day, when he counts his 
years by threescore and ten. The late 
Colonel John J. McCook had torn himself 
away from his beloved Ohio to build up a 
large practice in the metropolis. Elihu Boot, 
hailing from Hamilton village and college, 
was making a place for himself. He had been 
an adviser of William M. Tweed; l>ut the same 
could he said of other reputable lawyers. 
John I). Townsend. for example, acted for 
Tweed in his final trial. All these avocats 
were hustling when I first knew them, hut their 
subsequent laurels and financial rewards were 
assured. While serving as Foreign Editor of 
the Herald, my hours of work being at night. 
I entered Columbia Law School. When Dr. 
Theodore W. Dwight was Professor of Con- 
stitutional Law at Columbia University, young 
men came hither from all pails of the English- 
speaking world to sit under his instruction. 
Such a teacher is rarely met in academic work; 
lhere was a timbre in his voice that aided 
memory by compelling recollection of the 
precepts enunciated. 

In the time of Cicero, somewhat of a Roman 
lawyer, acceptance of a fee for legal services 
was not an act of good form. Oratory suf- 



ficed for argument, and renown look the place 
of all other rewards. Conditions are some- 
what changed in our day. Mr. Evarts is said 
to have received $200,000 for an opinion em- 
braced in the single word. "Yes.' William 
Nelson Cromwell, who was in Columbia Law- 
School when 1 was there, received from 
Eugene Zimmerman a fee of .$1(1(1.000 for ad- 
justing the tangled affairs of the Cincinnati, 
Hamilton & Dayton railroad. This occurred 
less than ten years after leaving Professor 
Dwight's class-room; but since that time, Mr. 
Cromwell has made the monumental record of 
a million-dollar fee. in addition to '"disburse- 
ments," as a reward for selling the French 
Panama Canal Company to the United States 
Government. When one remembers that the 
Frenchmen received $40,000,000 for a com- 
pletely bankrupt enterprise, concession and 
unfinished canal, their attorney served them 
faithfully and the payment was not excessive 
—representing as it did six years of constant 
attention and one hundred trips to \\ ashington. 
Mr. Cromwell will always he known as "the 
genius of the Panama Canal." 

The charming personality of the late Al- 
gernon S. Sullivan has been mentioned in an 
early page of this volume. I now come to 
speak of a younger man, who, after graduation 
from Columbia Law School, became asso- 
ciated with Mr. Sullivan in the practice of 
law. In a few years, the firm of Sullivan & 
Cromwell was known from one end of the 
United States to the other. This was largely 
due to the energy and success of the junior 
partner. William Nelson Cromwell, in the 
reorganization of great corporations. After 
the death of Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Cromwell 
carried to complete success several of the most 
stupendous schemes of corporate organization 
ever attempted in any land. 

If ever a mortal won the order of knight- 
hood at the hand of the God of Success. Wil- 



•J 14 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



liam Nelson Cromwell is that man! What 
manner of man is her Snow-white hair and 
mustache accentuate strong lines of deter- 
mination in his keen, earnest face. The 
dark-blue eyes are its most distinctive feature. 
Hardly above medium height and rather 
slender of figure, his broad shoulders indicate 
athletic training or open-air work early in life. 
He was horn in Xew York, January 4, 1854, 
and is a son of Colonel John Nelson Cromwell, 
of the Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, who 
was killed in battle, July lb", 1S(>.'?. soon after 
passing unscathed through the three days' 
carnage at Gettysburg. The subject of this 
sketch was educated by private tutors, owing 
to his delicate health, and was graduated 
at Columbia Law School in the class of IS??. 
The man of to-day is very striking in person- 
ality and figure, and would he singled out 
among a multitude by any student of men. 
As mentioned, he is now senior of the firm of 
Sullivan & Cromwell, founded by Algernon S. 
Sullivan, a Sir Philip Sydney in chivalry, 
benevolence and gentleness of character. 
Throughout his career at the bar. Mr. Crom- 
well has made a specialty of corporation law 
and was one of the pioneers in the formation 
of the gigantic companies for which the United 
States is noted. As a reorganizer of bank- 
rupt firms, he has earned renown: he has al- 
ways succeeded in restoring crippled concerns 
to a paying basis. Grappling with large cor- 
porations, involving millions of money, was 
not an act of novelty to Mr. Cromwell, there- 
fore, and when he undertook to rehabilitate 
the character of the Panama Canal Company 
and to sell its charter to the United States, he 
went about the task with the same enthusiasm 
he had displayed on many previous accasions. 
Had he not organized the National Tube 
Company in IS!)!), with a capital of eighty 
million dollars? Why should he balk at 
making a sale of property inventoried at only 
half as much ? 

The supreme coup of this brilliant counsel- 
lor's life was the final success of six years of 
ceaseless effort whereby he changed official 
and sentimental preference for the Nicaragua 
route for an Inter-oceanic canal to a Congres- 
sional majority favoring Panama. The need 
of an isthmian canal had been conceded for 



fifty years; but Nicaragua was the only route 
discussed by American engineers. Commis- 
sion after commission had reported in its 
favor, never a favorable word for Panama. 
Meanwhile, a French company had been 
organized, hundreds of millions of francs sub- 
scribed and work had begun, under the direc- 
tion of the creator of the Sue/, canal, Count 
de Lesseps. The French corporation had 
been wastefully extravagant and had reached 
a point at which popular criticism denounced 
its management and criminal prosecution 
against its chief directors was instituted. 

Such was the situation when William Nel- 
son Cromwell undertook the seemingly im- 
possible task of changing American sentiment. 
He was counsel for the Panama railroad, 
originally an American corporation that had 
been taken over by the French Canal Com- 
>any. For that reason, Mr. Cromwell was 
•mown to the officers of that organization. 
He conceived the idea of having the United 
States take over the Panama enterprise. In- 
vestigation showed that the French company 
was not in desperate straits, as currently rep- 
resented, and at the time Mr. Cromwell under- 
took to convince the Frenchmen they had best 
sell out to the United States more than three 
thousand men were at work on the Canal. 
Hardly crediting this statement, given to him 
in Paris, Mr. Cromwell cabled to this city 
and sent a photographer to Panama, with 
orders to walk over the route of the water- 
way and take a picture every mile. 

Before Mr. Cromwell could begin the task 
of convincing the American Congress of the 
wisdom of digging the great ditch and owning 
it. instead of letting France get a foothold 
upon the Isthmus, he had to persuade the 
French Panama Company to fix a price and 
consent to sell. This task looked like a for- 
lorn hope, almost to the last moment. Hut 
he finally succeeded ! 

Then he moved his base of operations from 
Paris to Washington. For two years, during 
sessions long and short, William Nelson Crom- 
well was appearing before committee after 
committee, always talking in the same con- 
fident manner. There is a quality in his voice 
that evinces sincerity, and this had much to 
do with the effects of more than a hundred 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



2 b 



addresses made before Senators and Rep- 
resentatives, in and out of committee rooms. 
Never, in or out of session, did he ask any 
Congressman to vote for Panama. It was a 
never flagging campaign of education; bu1 
it was waged in the open and through the mails 
by the distribution of maps, every one of 
which was attested by United States Min- 
isters, by engineers of international reputa- 
tion and eminent travelers. The workmen 
of Mr. Cromwell's Bureau of Education were 
sleepless! But Mr. Cromwell did not have 
any associate counsel: his was the directing 
mind. 

When Philander C. Knox, Attorney-General 
of the United States, went to Paris, he did so 
to submit Mr. Cromwell's written opinion 
upon the validity of the title of the French 
Canal Company to the highest authority on 
French civil law, M. Waldeck-Rousseau. Early 
Mr. Cromwell had satisfied himself that Un- 
title of the French corporation was beyond 
question, all statements to the contrary. The 
famous Parisian avocat gave several weeks 
to an examination of every phase of the con- 
tracts, and reported unequivocally in favor 
of the Cromwellian brief. Diplomatic art of 
the highest Bismarckian class must lie credited 
to the victor in that campaign, from first to 
last, because the weapon of absolute truth 
was always employed. Diplomacy and double 
dealing are far too often and justly associated: 
but they had no part in this negotiation. As 
Senator Ilanna said. "Cromwell was 'Johnny 
on the spot,' always prepared to answer ques- 
tions, always ready with proofs, — proofs, re- 
member, — to sustain his contention." As a 
truth. Mr. Cromwell was not acquainted with 
many Senators or Representatives. 

At the critical moment, when the hour for 
a summing up of evidence for and against the 
Panama route was approaching, the terrible 
disaster at Martinique, the eruption of Mount 
Pelee and the utter destruction of the city 
of St. Pierre, occurred! With an instinct 
truly journalistic. Mr. Cromwell seized upon 
the calamity, and. by maps, showed that five 
active volcanoes were marshalled along the 
line of the proposed Nicaraguan canal. Mr. 
Cromwell said to the writer a few hours 
after the vote had been taken: 



'Mount Pelee won the light for Panama!" 
A few days later, when the bill ordering 
the purchase of the French interests had been 
signed by President Roosevelt, the counsellor 
told me an even more characteristic thing, 
so curious and so personal that it describes 




Wl 1. 1.1 \\1 NELSON CROMWELL 



the man better than would a regiment of words: 
"How can I epitomize the anxiety and toil 
of the past live years ? I have literally lived upon 
night trains between New York and Wash- 
ington: I have made more than four hundred 
trips to the Capital! Ah! 1 can give to von 
a hint of my feelings! When my train pulled 
out of Washington that afternoon of victory, 
I gazed from the car window long and intently 
at the great white dome on Capitol Hill. 
Why? Nearly everv time I had arrived in or 



216 



THE BOO K of NEW YORK 



departed from Washington I had seen that 
lofty objeci with shiverings of anxiety, dis- 
quietude and pain. It mocked me in mv 
bitteresi moments; its calm placidity added 
to my despair. Thousands of hours, precious 
to a man with only one life, vital to his hopes, 
apparently had been wasted, with the con- 
nivance of that bulging dome. But. when 1 
looked it in the face that never-to-be-forgotten 
day. 1 mentally said: 'You terrify me no 
longer. You can stay there, forever: I have 
fought you to a finish. — and won!" It was 
a feeling of triumph, an indescribable thrill 
of victory over the inanimate, that I cannot 
expect any one to comprehend." 

When one gets to talking about lawyers 
whom one has known during an experience 
of forty-odd years with New York newspapers. 
there is practically no end to the names and 
faces that come before one; some of them will 
lie described in this volume. Many I have 
known personally, some even intimately; others 
a bowing acquaintance carried on for years, 
and with the remainder a knowledge of 
many of the things they have done. 

It is a great profession in New York — the 
law — it has attracted the best minds of the 
country; the rewards are better, when one 
wins, than in perhaps any other walk of life. 
There is many a failure, too. sad ones at that: 
but Xew York doesn't care for failures, ami 
I'm going to draw only on those who are 
winning. 

When I was in Washington in 1886, one 
of the ablest Constitutional lawyers in the 
United States Senate was John Coit Spooner, 
of Wisconsin. Although he had occupied a 
seat in the Chamber less than one year, he 
was recognized as an expert debater and com- 
manded attention whenever he addressed 
that body. That he would eventually come to 
New York to practice his profession, after his 
ambition in statesmanship had been fully 
gratified, was inevitable. This he did in 
1907, while retaining his official residence in 
Madison, Wisconsin. Senator Spooner was 
born at Law renceburg. End., 1843, a de- 
scendant of William Spooner, who came from 
England in 1637 and settled at Dartmouth, 
in the colony of Massachusetts. Young Spoon- 
er attended the public school of Madison and 



entered the University of Wisconsin in I860. 
In response to the call from President Lincoln, 
he recruited a company from the University 
students, stipulating with the faculty that the 
members be allowed to graduate as if not 
enlisted. Although entitled to a commission, 
he enlisted as a private in Company B. 40th 




JOHN (' SPI ION] l; 



Wisconsin Infantry, served through the hun- 
dred days' term and reenlisfed for three years 
as Captain of Company A. 50th Wisconsin. 
He began the study of law and was ad- 
mitted to practice in 1867. Meanwhile, he 
was serving as military secretary to Governor 
Lucius Fairchild, with the rank of Colonel 
and for two years was Quartermaster-General 
of the state. He was Assistant Attorney- 
General during 1869 and '70. At the end of 
his term, he removed to Hudson and soon 
acquired a large practice; he was counsel for 
two new railway companies, the West Wiscon- 
sin and North Wisconsin. When these roads 
were merged into the Chicago, Minneapolis & 
Omaha railroad, he became general counsel. 



THE HOOK of NEW VOIIK 



217 



He was elected to the State Legislature in 
1871, his most important service in thai 
body being the passage of a bill to levy a gen- 
era] state tax to be added annually to the in- 
come of the University of Winconsin. When 
the Vanderbilts secured control of the rail- 
road of which he was general counsel in 1884, 
Mr. Spooner resigned. A year later, he be- 
came a candidate for the United States Senate 
and began his campaign with an agreement 
that nothing disrespectful in speech or news- 
paper should be spoken or written aboul his 
opponent. He was elected in January. 1885, 
and took his seat on March 4th. He was one 
of the youngest members of the Senate, hut. 
as 1 have said, he soon took rank as an orator 
and lawyer of brilliant attainments. While 
serving as chairman of the Senate Committee 
on ( laiins. he saved the government more than 
$30,000,000. Senator Spooner made several 
memorable addresses. I lis eulogy of Vice- 
President Hendricks on the occasion of the 
memorial service is recalled. An episode 
between Spooner and Butler, of South Caro- 
lina, will long remain a tradition of the Senate. 
Spooner was advocating the admission of 
South Dakota as a state (INNS), when Butler 
objected to Dakota "trying to break into the 
Union." Spooner instantly retorted that Da- 
kota had as much inherent right to "break 
in" as Butler's state (South Carolina) had 
to "break out." In 1890, Senator Spooner 
made a stubborn effort to have sugar placed 
on the free list and some of his speeches in 
behalf of that measure were eloquent. When 
his term ended he removed from Hudson to 
Madison, the capital of his state, where he 
devoted himself to a large general practice. 
He fought the attempted gerrymandering of 
the legislative and congressional districts by 
the Democrats. He was unanimously nomi- 
nated for the governorship in 1892, but was 
defeated by Governor Peck. He was again 
sent to the United States Senate in IS!)?, 
where he added new laurels to his fame as a 
statesman. During the ten years of his sec- 
ond service in the Senate, he made speeches 
or debated upon 450 different subjects. 

Many of the most distinguished lawyers of 
the metropolis arc acquisitions from other 
states. For example, the dean of the profes- 



sion, Joseph II. Choate, comes from Mas- 
sachusetts, and Judge A. J. Dittenhoefer 
from South Carolina. The present head of 
the legal department of the Western Union 
Telegraph Company. George Hadsall Fearons, 
hails from Kentiickv. where he was born. :! | 




GEORGE H. FEARONS 



Newport, 1S.).'5. His father was a distinguished 
lawyer in the "Blue Grass State" and was 
Mayor of his town. Of course, the Fearons 
are of Irish descent: the family, originally 
French, had first settled in Essex, England, 
but later removed to Dublin, where the father 
of the present counsellor was born. On the 
maternal side, I find Kentucky blood, directly 
descended from a family of Connecticut 
Quakers. Mrs. Fearons' father had removed 



•218 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



from Dunkirk. New York, to New Haven, on 
account of Indian outbreaks on the frontier. 
George Hadsall Fearons began his school days 
at Newport but was soon transferred to Mount 
St. Mary's College, .Maryland: he look his 
Bachelor of Arts degree at St. Francis Xavier 
College, Cincinnati, in 1871. A brief post- 
graduate course was had at the St. Louis 
University, Missouri, and subsequently study 
was had at Paris. Stuttgart and Heidelberg, 
under private tutors. Returning to his native 
state, young Fearons read law with the late 
.John G. Carlisle at Covington, meanwhile 
taking a course at the Cincinnati Law School. 

Mr. Fearons heard "the call of the city" in 
IS?.') and. coming to New York, opened a 
law office. He soon returned to the west. 
and for three years taught school at Toledo 
and Cincinnati. Ohio, serving as principal in 
both places. I next hear of him as a clerk in 
the Superintendent's office of the Western 
Union Telegraph Company, at Cincinnati. 
There he appears to have found his metier, 
and, in 1881, on the call of Norvin Green, 
then President of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company, young Fearons triumphantly 
"came back" to New York as an assistant in 
its legal department. Nine years later, he was 
made general attorney for the great corpora- 
tion, a position he still holds. His rise to this 
post of distinction was earned by strenuous 
service in various parts of the country, wher- 
ever actions at law demanded his presence. 
He acted as general counsel for the Southern 
Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company; was 
an organizer of the American District Tele- 
graph Company of New Jersey, and, for 
twenty years, has been legal representative in 
the United States of the great British corpora- 
tion, the Anglo-American Cable Company, 
lie is President of the Havana District Tele- 
graph Company and Vice-President of the 
Dominion Messenger & Signal Company of 
Canada, and attends to the legal business of 
sixty other corporations in this country and 
Europe. 

The scope of Mr. Fearons' duties is very 
broad; not only has he charge of all the local 
legal business of the Western Union Telegraph 
Company but is expected to protect its inter- 
ests throughout the States of the Union, ap- 



pearing in the highest courts of every one of 
them. A highly memorable case, carried to 
a .successful finish in the Supreme Court of 
the United States, was the "Primrose" litiga- 
tion that settled for all time the liability of a 
telegraph company under the contract with 
the sender of a message, as printed upon the 
back of a message blank. He showed that 
the duty of such sender was to read and. if 
necessary, have explained to him the terms of 
the contract into which he entered when he 
signed his name upon the face of the blank. 
When the City of Richmond. Ya., undertook 
to oust the Southern Bell Telephone & Tele- 
graph Company from its streets, involving the 
rights of telephone corporations under the Act 
of Congress of July 24, 1866, Mr. Fearons 
carried the ease to the highest court in this 
land and won it. 

I should want a whole volume to recount 
the legal achievements of Judge John Forrest 
Dillon, who, although he came back to us 
from the west, where he had spent his boy- 
hood in Iowa, was born in Montgomery Co., 
N. Y.. December 25, 1831, and at the age of 
nineteen, having removed west with his par- 
ents, took a degree of Doctor of Medicine at 
the Iowa University. After six months' prac- 
tice of that profession, he began the study of 
law and was admitted to the bar in 1852. Be- 
tween that time and his return to New York 
in IS?!), he was appointed Prosecuting Attor- 
ney, Judge of the 7th Judicial District, la.. 
Judge of the Supreme Court, and a U. S. 
Circuit Judge. This last office he resigned 
to accept the post of Professor of Real Estate 
and Equity Jurisprudence at Columbia Uni- 
versity, where he remained for three years. 
Since then he has been general counsel for 
the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co.. the Western 
Union Telegraph Co.. the Texas Pacific Rail- 
road Co.. and other Gould corporations. He 
is the author of many books upon law and 
jurisprudence and of an admirable life of 
Chief Justice Marshall. 

When it comes to mixing oil and law, Mor- 
timer F. Elliott, General Solicitor of the 
Standard Oil Company, is probably the most 
competent man in the United States. For 
several years he has borne the brunt of the 
legal contests directed by the government and 



THE HOOK of NEW YOKE 



21!) 



private individuals against the great corpora- 
tion. Sometimes his opponents seem to be 
gaining an advantage in one court, lnit Solici- 
tor Elliott triumphantly bowls them out in 
another. A constant, unending struggle exists, 
on the part of critics and rivals, to invade a 
held the Standard Company has made its 
own. Mr. Elliott did not reach his present 
eminence by any short cuts; he attained it 
along the straight trail of thoroughness, lie 
is to-day justly regarded as the dean among 
the old corporation lawyers. 

Then' wasn't any oil agitation in Tioga 
County, Western Pennsylvania, when Mi-. 
Elliott was horn. He spent his boyhood on a 
farm and was a very handy youngster about 
the place when he wasn't attending district 
school. When he grew large enough to con- 
template an advanced education, lie attended 
the Alfred University at Alleghany, X. Y.; 
but he left before graduation and returned to 
his home county to study law in the office of 
Judge Wilson. He worked to support him- 
self during all the time he was reading law. 
After admission to the bar, he caused his 
name to be painted on a board over the door 
of his office. Although the letters were large 
and the announcement of his determination 
to practice law was direct and unequivocal, 
the good people of Tioga County declined to 
take notice. Instead of business coming to 
him. young Mr. Elliott had to go in search 
of it. He thoroughly prepared every case he 
handled. It was said of him that if he were 
to have litigation involving the paternity of a 
dodo. Elliott would have become an authority 
on dodos before the day of trial. About this 
time, political friends advised him to go to 
Congress. He was nominated and elected to 
the House of Representatives; but one term 
was sufficient and he returned to the practice 
of law. with gladness. The new oil districts 
in Northwestern Pennsylvania and South- 
western New York developed almost as much 
litigation as oil. Several cases of that sort 
came to the hands of Mr. Elliott and in their 
study he was brought to a comprehension of 
the utter inadequacy of existing statutes for 
the protection of the great oil industry. Law 
hadn't been made to lit an oil "strike." Ap- 
parently, the assumption had been that every- 



body engaged in the oil business was a person 
of integrity; but constant claims and counter- 
claims made by litigants disproved it. Some 
people in that part of the world were not hon- 
est. Mr. Elliott math' a study of the oil busi- 
ness from every view-point. He visited the 
wells. learned how they were drilled, studied 
indications favorable to the finding of oil. 
learned how it was pumped, stored and piped 
ami became, literally, a practical developer of 




MORTIMER F. ELLIOTT 



oil property. He won most of tin' cases en- 
trusted to him; as the oil area broadened, his 
business grew with its expansion. People who 
had controversies about claims rarely consulted 
anybody else. The litigant who first got Mr. 
Elliott's ear considered himself fortunate. 
Some of his most stubbornly contested cases 
were against the Standard Oil Company, and, 
in them, he proved himself more than equal 
to their cleverest attorneys. Following its 
usual custom, this corporation secured the ex- 
clusive control of Mr. Elliott's gray matter! 
The big company didn't relish legal defeats 
any Letter than it did trade defeats. In 1892 
Mr. Elliott went to ( )il City as attorney for 



220 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



the Standard Oil Co., for the fields of West 
Virginia, Indiana and Ohio. In 1898 lie came 
to New York as assistant attorney for the 
Company. In 1903 lie assumed control of 
the legal department and in 1905, upon the 
death' of S. ('. T. Dodd, Mr. Elliott was 
promptly advanced to the vacant place, at the 
head of the company's legal department. 

My first vivid recollection of Stewart L. 
Woodford goes back to a raw and windy 
October day in 1868, when, with a few other 
expectant students of the about-to-be-born 
Cornell University, I stood at the lofty hill- 
top at Ithaca, prospective site of campus and 
college buildings, and heard his admirable 
address accepting the first gift of woman to 
the nascent institution of learning. He was a 
younger man then; was Lieutenant-Governor 
of the State of Xew York, a devoted friend 
of the young President, Andrew I). White. 
and of the founder. Ezra Cornell. I have 
heard him speak probably a hundred times 
in the years which have followed, but the 
mental picture of this finished orator of thirty- 
three, with a splendid war record and an 
enviable political career to his credit, can 
never be effaced. Perhaps my own loneliness 
and distance from home may have caused 
his naturally sympathetic nature to appeal 
to me. I thought his recitation of the verses 
from Tennyson's '"In Memoriam," inscribed 
by Miss Jenny McGraw upon the bells of 
the chime she had given, the most finished bil 
of eloquence I had ever heard. We met for 
the first time that evening at a reception given 
by President White. 

General Woodford's career has been one 
of complete success, whether if be judged from 
the viewpoints of political, professional, mili- 
tary, financial or diplomatic careers. This 
can be said of few men. He was born in Xew 
York in 1<S.'5.5 and has always been a lover of 
city life. Widely as he has traveled in later 
years, he always returns to the place of his 
nativity with gladness. He took his college 
course at Columbia, in his day highest in 
classical standard of any institution of this 
land and having Charles Anthon as its Hel- 
lenic champion. Since graduation in 1S.>4. 
he has been the recipient of about a dozen 
honorary degrees from various institutions. 



He began law practice in this city just before 
the Civil War ami was serving as Assistant 
I nited States District Attorney of the Southern 
District of Xew York when he secured an 
appointment as Lieutenant Colonel of the 
127th Xew York Infantry ami went to the 
front. He was soon raised to a Colonelcy 
and at the close of the war was breveted a 
Brigadier-General of Volunteers "for zeal. 
efficient and generally meritorious conduct." 
Hence his title, which was earned by nearly 
three years of active service in the face of the 
enemy. He resigned from the army, August 
L >;?. 1865, having acted as military commander 
of Charleston and Savannah. Returning to 
law practice in this city, his natural predilection 
for politics made him a candidate for Lieu- 
tenant-Governor and he was triumphantly 
elected: he was the choice of his party (Re- 
publican) for Governor in 1870, but was de- 
feated. He was President of the Electoral 
College in '72 that east its vote for General 
Grant. Then lie was sent to the Forty- 
third Congress, but resigned after a year and 
a half. It seems idle to mention the distinc- 
tions which have been showered upon Gen- 
eral Woodford. He was United States Dis- 
trict Attorney in this district for six years and 
was a member of the Commission that drafted 
the Charter for Greater Xew York, 1896. 
When complications became imminent be- 
tween this country and Spain, growing out of 
mistreatment of the Cubans by Captain-Gen- 
eral Weyler, President Mckinley despatched 
Genera] Woodford to Madrid as Envoy Ex- 
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to 
the Court of King Alfonso XIII. Personally, 
the American Minister was popular: but when 
war was declared, in April, 1898, he returned 
home, stopping in Paris en route to transfer to 
the British Ambassador, then hurrying to 
Madrid, authority to act for American resi- 
dents in Spain during the continuance of the 
then inevitable conflict. These two diplo- 
mats discussed for the first time the results 
that must follow necessary acquisition of the 
Philippines by the United States. After nine 
years of active devotion to his profession 
which followed General Woodford's return 
to Xew York, he was chosen President of the 
Hudson-Fulton Commission, one of the most 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



221 



successful celebrations of two great historic 
incidents in the history of this continent, 
namely, the discovery of Manhattan Island 
ami the first practical use of steam as motive 
power upon the Hudson River. At the Re- 
publican National Convention of 1898 he 
placed Governor Hughes in nomination for 
the Presidency. Since that time he has trav- 
eled extensively in Europe and has Keen the 
recipient of distinguished honors from its 
Monarchs and Presidents. The Emperor of 
Germany last year decorated him with the 
Crown Order of the 1st Class. 

The Kentuckians believe in the breeding of 
horses and the development of good blood in 
men. The Meanys of Kentucky and the 
Shannons of the same state are the progenitors 
of Edwai'd P. Meany, Brigadier-General of 
the National Guard of New Jersey. Judge 
Edward A. Meany. his father, served most 
capably and honorably upon the bench of that 
state and enjoyed a brilliant and successful 
career at the bar; and his grandfather, Captain 
Henry Gould Shannon, served in the War of 
1812 and in the Mexican War. Commodore 
Barry and Captain John Meany of Philadel- 
phia were also members of this family. Porn 
in Louisville. Ky., 1S.54, Edward P. Meany 
was educated in his native state and admitted 
to the bar in 1878 after thorough preparation 
by his learned father. General Meany did 
not take long to find his level in his profession 
after he came East. In 1884 he became 
vice-president of the New Mexican Central 
iS; Southern railroad and obtained from the 
Mexican Government the concession under 
which it operates in that republic. He also 
represented that company in Europe. Gener- 
al Meany served as counsel for the American 
Telephone & Telegraph Co., and has occupied 
several important positions in the executive 
service of that and its tributary corporations. 
As a Democrat he was a delegate to the 
National Conventions in 1896 and 1900, al- 
ways supporting the cause of sound money. 
Since 1<S!).'5 he has served as Judge Advocate- 
General of the State of New Jersey with the 
rank of Brigadier-General. He is vice-presi- 
dent and a director of the Trust Company 
of New Jersey, a director of the Colonial 



Life Insuia nee ( )o. of America, the National Iron 
Bank of Morristown and many business cor- 
porations. He is a member of the Lawyers, Mor- 
ris County Golf and Morris County Country 




G il! u>\\ \i:n p. mi: ANY 



clubs, the Whippany River and Morristown 
clubs, and possesses a charming country place 
near Morristown, which is a reproduction on 
a smaller scale of the home of his ancestors in 
the old world. 

Heeding the call of the metropolis, Willis 
T. Gridley relinquished a lucrative law prac- 
tice in Syracuse, came to New York City in 
1901, and quickly attained prominence at the 
Bar here. 

Mr. Gridley was born on a farm near 
Fayetteville, Onondaga County, N. Y.. Jan- 
uary 10. 1870. His preliminary education 
was received in the district school, after which 
he attended the Polytechnic Academy at 
Chittenango, X. Y, driving four miles night 
and morning and in addition attending to his 
farm work. He graduated in 1SSS and won 
the Cornell University scholarship. Just be- 



222 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



lore taking the scholarship examination, bis 
grandfather, Daniel Gates, told him that it' he 
won he would defray his expenses at college, 
lie graduated from Cornell LL.B. with the 
Class <>r 1892, and Mr. Gates presented him 
with one hundred shares of Western Union 
Telegraph stock, lie was admitted to the 
Bar. February Hi. 1893, and had the unusual 




WILLIS T. GRIDL] V 

honor when only twenty-three years of age 
of being chosen attorney of the Salt Springs 
National Bank of Syracuse. X. Y.. and 
though young in years and practice, his ability 
was demonstrated when he vanquished a firm 
of old and experienced attorneys. 

While Mr. Gridley represented the bank a 
hitler fighl arose between the different factions 
to gain its control and the opposing force 
engaged Hiscock, Doheny & Hiscock, then 



of mandamus compelling the transfei 

weeks the situation remainec 



the most influential and successful law firm 
up-state. A secret move by these attorneys 
gained a majority interest for their clients, 
but when they attempted to have the necessary 
slock transferred, Mr. Gridley stepped in and 
defeated the movement. This stock, thirteen 
shares, which carried control with it. the 
owner had agreed to sell to Mr. Gridley's 
clients, and the opposing faction bought it 
after having being notified of this contract. By 
virtue of this agreement, Mr. Gridley obtained 
an injunction restraining the transfer of the 
stock and the opposing counsel got out a writ 

For 
unchanged until 
the opposition gave in and offered to sell all 
interests to the defending faction, which 
thereby retained control of the bank. 

Mr. Gridley had a large corporation prac- 
tice in Syracuse, representing many large 
firms in Utica, Watertown, Cortland. Bing- 
hamton and other points in that judicial 
district. Since coming to New- York City he 
has appeared in many important cases, among 
them being that of Miss Laura Glover, of 
Atlanta. Ga., who is bringing several suits 
to recover the lost estate of her mother, uncle 
and grandfather, amounting to something like 
$3,000,000. Most of this' property was dis- 
posed of by the public administrator in office 
about the time of the Civil War. and actions 
for recovery will be brought against the city, 
the National Bank of Commerce in New York, 
the New York Central Railway Company and 
many others. 

He is also attorney for the contestant in the 
Lesster ^ill Case, which involves the control 
of an estate valued at $800,000. 

Mr. Gridley is a descendant of Judge Philo 
Gridley, an eminent jurist of Utica and is 
a son of Daniel Webster Gridley, who was 
named for the illustrious statesman, and who 
was, prior to his death. November '21. 1911, 
president of the Fayettesville & Syracuse 
Railroad Company. His grandfather, Daniel 
Gates, was one of the pioneers of Madison 
County, and amassed a fortune of nearly 
$2,500,000. Upon his death he left consider- 
able fortunes to Mr. Gridley's mother, Helen 
M. Gridley, who is owner of the Gridley Block 
in Syracuse, and the largest individual stock- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



223 



holder in the Thousand Island Park Associa- 
tion Company; to his son, ex-State Senator 
Frank II. dates, ami to each of his grand- 
children. 

Mr. Gridley is a member of the New York 
County Lawyers' Association, the Society of 
the Onondagas and the Delta ("hi fraternity. 
He was a member of all the leading clubs in 
Syracuse, hut since his residence in Xew York 
City has not taken any interest in clubdom. 

The middle west, from whence has conic so 
many men to achieve honor and distinction 
in New York City, has made a worthy con- 
tribution to our professional ranks in Wilson 
15. Brice, whose ancestors were originally 
English settlers in the colony of Virginia. His 
forebears were men of stamina, education and 
versatility, who blazed the trails on the then 
western borders, and afterwards settled down 
as leaders in the civilization that followed 
their efforts. 

It would have been unnatural for Mr. 
Brice to have entered mercantile pursuits. 
He is a lawyer and in adopting a profession 
only followed the bent of six generations of 
studious ancestors who have been lawyers, 
physicians, clergymen, or army or navy officers. 
Mr. Brice was born in Tarlton, Ohio. June 4. 
1863, and graduated from the Greenfield High 
School, 18?!); the Salem Academy, 1881; the 
National Normal University. A.B.. in 1882, 
and Harvard University, LL.B.. in 1888. He 
was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati in 1889 
and came to New York City in 1894. 

Mr. Brice has made a specialty of trial and 
appellate work, usually being trial counsel for 
defendant corporations and has been eminently 
successful, not losing a case for over two years. 
In one instance, the jury disagreed, two 
others were settled during trial and the balance 
of the cases, thirty in all. were won at trial and 
affirmed on appeal. His thorough prepara- 
tion, fair-minded presentation and skilful 
examination of witnesses led a Supreme Court 
Justice to name Mr. Brice. and three other 
attorneys, as the "four best trial lawyers that 
had been before him." 

The reasons for Mr. Brice's success are un- 
doubtedly his thorough democracy, his power 
of attracting and holding attention and his 



forceful and convincing manner. He is skilful 
in oratory not the kind that talks over the 
juror's heads 1ml ;it them — and his plain and 
logical conclusions arc not to lie controverted. 
An important case in which Mr. Brice 
figured, together with David McClure and the 
late John Notman, was where he represented 
the property owners on William Street who 
were opposed to the construction of a subway 
under that thoroughfare. The Rapid Transit 




WILSON B. BRICE 



Commissioners contended that the Commis- 
sion appointed to determine whether the sub- 
ways should be built as planned, must in- 
clude William Street or ignore all the other 
routes. Counsel contended they could cut out 
William Street and the court sustained the 
contention. The preparation of the brief and 
the argument of the law on the subjeel were 
left to Mr. Brice and it received the commen- 
dation of his associate counsel. As advisor 
fpr a life insurance company. Mr. Brice pro- 
cured a decision from the Appellate Division, 
that where a company has been induced to 
issue a policy through false representation as 
to the health of the insured, the company can 
cancel the policy without lust offering to re- 



«4 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



store the premium. It was the first decision 
of the kind in (he United States. 

He is a member of the law linn of Van 
Schaick & Brice, with offices at No. 100 Broad- 
way, and is a director of the Van Schaick 
Realty Company, the New Holland Land and 
Mortgage Company, the New Jersey Gold- 
field Mines Corporation, director and counsel 
for the Hankers' Life Insurance Company, 
ami is trial counsel for a railroad and several 
hank and insurance corporations. 

He is a Republican in politics hut has never 
held office, although he has frequently been 
urged by his friends to accepl nominations. 

W. B. Brice comes from illustrious an- 
cestry on both the maternal and paternal 
sides. The Brice family was founded in 
America sometime prior to 1676 by John 
Brice. who came from England and settled 
near what is now Annapolis, Md. From him 
descended Maryland. Virginia and South 
Carolina branches of the family and his 
progeny included men of more than ordinary 
note. Col. James Brice and ('apt. William 
Brice serving in the Revolutionary Army, 
Nicholas Brice being a distinguished lawyer 
and judge in Baltimore Major-General Ben- 
jamin Wilson Brice being Paymaster-General 
of the United States Army during the Civil 
War. and the late Calvin S. Brice, Tinted 
States Senator from Ohio. 

Captain William Brice, the great-grand- 
father of Wilson B. Brice, served through the 
loic struggle for independence of the ( Colonies. 
He was in the battle of Long Island, wintered 
at Valley Forge and played an important 
part at the battle of Trenton. He won a 
captaincy for bravery and died when only 
forty-three years of age as the result of exposure 
during the war. His wife was a Jones, who after 
the death of her husband removed to Harrison 
Countv, Virginia, now West Virginia, and her 
two sons married daughters of Col. Benjamin 
Wilson. The younger son became a dis- 
tinguished physician in Newark, Ohio, and 
his only child was the late Major-General 
Benjamin Wilson Brice. a graduate of West 
Point who served in the Black Hawk and other 
Indian wars, and in the Mexican and Civil 
Wars. 

The elder son of Captain William Brice 



was Benjamin Jones Brice, grandfather of 
Wilson B. Brice. He was a lawyer and judge 
of one of the courts and a large land owner in 
Virginia. He had the most select library in 
all the section where he lived and from his own 
volumes studied French. ( ierman, Latin, Creek 
and Hebrew, becoming proficient in the latter 
when eighty years of age. He was a slave 
owner, but in his will freed all the slaves and 
left them each enough money or property to 
start them in an humble way, on their new 
life. His wife was Sarah Wilson, daughter 
of Col. Benjamin Wilson, and they had four- 
teen children, three of them being sons. The 
daughters with two exceptions married either 
lawyers or physicians. 

Mr. Brice's father, Archibald Blackburn 
Brice. D.I)., was the youngest son. He was 
a Presbyterian clergyman who received de- 
grees of A.B. and D.I), from Waynesburg Col- 
lege; acted as editor of a religious publication 
for seven years and then entered actively into 
ministerial work for over 40 years, dying in 
Cincinnati in 1892. Upon the breaking out 
of the Civil War, Dr. Brice, greatly aided in 
the work of enlisting troops and made many 
speeches in support of the Union. His views 
wore so pronounced and his campaign so vig- 
orous that the southern sympathizers referred 
to him as "Old Brice, the Union Shrieker." 

The mother of Wilson B. Brice was Eveline 
V. Vose, of Vermont, whose ancestry was also 
noted, she being a descendant of the Voses, 
Mayos and Whitneys who were early Colonial 
settlers in and around Boston. 

Mr. Brice's connection with the Jones 
family is through his great-grandfather. Wil- 
liam Brice marrying Rachael Jones, whose 
father Griffith Jones, was a distinguished 
Welsh Baptist clergyman who came to America 
in 174!). Rev. Morgan Jones, father of 
Rev. Griffith Jones married the daughter 
of the Marquis of Cardigan, a house that is 
now extinct. Among the collateral relatives in 
the Jones family are Robert J. Burdette. the 
humorist and the late Col. A. E. Jones, who 
was Provost Marshal of Cincinnati during 
the Civil War. 

In the Wilson branch of the family, Mr. 
Brice is descended from David Wilson, of 
Scotland, whose son David removed to Ire- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



^)0 



20 



land in 1722 and was the father of William 
Wilson, who settled in the Shenandoah Val- 
ley, Virginia, in 1746. 'The daughter of his 
oldest son. Col. Benjamin Wilson, married 
Benjamin Jones Brice, grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. 

Col. Wilson was a man of distinction and 
an Indian fighter. He was a lieutenant in 
an expedition against the Shawnee Indians in 
Ohio and was a colonel of the Virginia troops 
in the Revolutionary War. At its close he 
was granted 4,000 acres of land in Licking 
County, Ohio, for his services. lie was a 
delegate to the Virginia State Convention 
which ratified the United States Constitution, 
and was a member of the State Legislature 
for several years. lie was a lawyer and after 
relinquishing practice was Clerk of the Court 
for many years. He had twenty-eight chil- 
dren, thirteen of whom were sons. He gave 
to each son a farm and to each daughter a 
dowry at marriage. At his death he left 127 
living descendants. 

A majority of Col. Wilson's sons became 
lawyers, one a Presbyterian clergyman and 
another president of the Marietta & Cin- 
cinnati Railroad. 

It will thus be seen that Mr. Brice's an- 
cestors were nearly all professional men. 
The women of the families all married men in 
that profession. It was, therefore, not strange 
that Mr. Brice should follow an inherent desire 
and enter the legal profession. He came to 
Xew York City a stranger and has won the 
confidence of every justice before whom he 
has appeared. While a Republican in politics, 
simply because he believes that party has given 
better administration, he is not subservient 
to bossism and fights hard and effectively 
when he thinks principle is being sacrificed for 
party interests. This was exemplified when 
he recently took sides against a Republican 
Congressional candidate in the Fifteenth Dis- 
trict. This man was defeated by 1,200 votes 
when previous candidates of the party had been 
elected by 3,000 majority. Mr. Brice had 
served on the Republican County Committee 
and on the Executive Committee of his As- 
sembly District and in repudiating (he nominee 
of his party, he gave the newspapers such 
convincing reasons for his opposition, that 



the voters were sure of his absolute honesty of 
purpose, and aided him in encompassing the 
candidate's defeat. 

Augustus Van Wyck's career as lawyer, jurist 
and citizen is <\\\v to natural gifts and, in 
a large measure, to the circumstance that lie 
has blended harmoniously in his person the 
best attributes of the Northland and the 
Southland the practical strength of the one 
and the charming manners of the other. His 
Xew York father and South Carolina mother 
left their impress upon him, and for him both 
sections entertain admiration and esteem. 
He also has been President of the Holland 
Society and the Southern Society of Xew York, 
each claiming him as one of its own loyal 
sons. Born in the year 1850, his youthful 
days were passed in the South, and his man- 
hood days in Xew York. He was fitted for 
college at Phillips Exeter Academy, and 
graduated with high honors from North 
( arolina University. 

At the bar of this big city, he soon attained 
great success, and was elected .bulge of the 
Superior City Court of Brooklyn in 1885, and 
in 1895 became a Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the State of Xew York. From the 
latter position, he resigned in 1898 to become 
the Democratic candidate for governor, mak- 
ing a close race with Theodore Roosevelt, who 
was then fresh from San Juan Hill. He re- 
fused to return to the Bench and devoted him- 
self to the practice of his profession, in which 
he almost immediately attained leadership. 

As a Democrat, he has shown independence 
of thought and action, and yet he has been 
the official head of his party organization, and 
delegate to numerous conventions, local, state 
and national, over many of which he has 
presided. His influence was potential in the 
nomination and election of Mr. Cleveland to 
the presidency. He has twice led a success- 
ful movement to restore his party to power. 

He has been counsel for the Episcopal 
Church for the Diocese of Long Island, as 
well as a member of its Executive Committee. 
He has also Keen trustee of several of the 
hospitals, of Adelphi College, of the Holland 
Society. St. Nicholas Society, Southern So- 
ciety and Xew England Society, and is a mem- 



226 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




AUGUSTUS VAX WYCK 



EDWARD LAl'TEKBACH 



her of a dozen of the leading clubs of Greater 

New York. 

When a young man begins practice at the 
bar with the enthusiasm that characterized 
Edward Lauterbach's entrance upon his pro- 
fessional career in 1865, success is only a 
question of time. He has ranked high in 
polities and at the bar; socially, he is a de- 
lightful companion. Edward Lauterbach was 
born in this city, on August 12, 1S44. attended 
the common schools and took a degree at the 
College of the City of New York in 1N(>4. 
lie received first prize in declamation while 
at college and soon held high rank as an 
orator. He plunged immediately into prac- 
tice and soon distinguished himself as a cor- 
poration attorney, especially as a railroad re- 
organizer. One of his most characteristic 
achievements was the unification of the New 
York Rapid 'Transit Systems. He also 
brought about the consolidation of the Union 
elevated railroads, was instrumental in com- 
pelling the electric companies to place their 



wires underground, and reorganized and built 
up many railroad systems in differenl parts 
of the country. lie also has been counsel 
for several surface railroads, including the 
Third Avenue Railroad. He was for seven 
years a member of the Board of Regents of 
the University of the State of New York, and 
an active participant in all measures looking 
to the improvement of educational facilities 
in this state. He was for a long time Chair- 
man of the Republican County Committee, 
and a close and trusted advisor of President 
McKinley in the affairs of this city and state 
and has been a delegate to all National 
and State Republican Conventions for years. 
He was for some time President of the Board 
of 'Trustees of the College of the City of New- 
York, and took an active part in the removal 
of the College from its first site at Lexington 
avenue and Twenty-third street to the new 
building on Washington Heights. As a mem- 
ber of the firm of Hoadly, Lauterbach & 
Johnson, he has conducted countless famous 
cases. Judge Iloadlv. former Governor of 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



227 




WILLIAM F. SHEEHAN 



I |i\\ \l:h \V HA II! I 



\I.1"N B PARKER 



Ohio, and Mr. Johnson are deceased; Mr. 
Lauterbach is at the head of the firm. lie 
was at one time vice-president of the Maurice 
Grau Grand Opera Co., and has always been 
prominent in musical affairs in this city. lie is 
a member of many social and charitable or- 
ganizations. Mr. Lauterbach is a director in 
the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, 
which has charge of two thousand children, 
and President of the National Liberal Immi- 
gration League. 

After achieving a high reputation as Dis- 
trict Attorney and Justice of the Superior 
Court of the City of Buffalo, Edward Wingate 
Hatch was elected to the Supreme Bench, 
designated to the Appellate Division in Brook- 
lyn. Subsequently he was transferred to 
Manhattan by Governor Roosevelt. In 1905, 
he resigned from the bench and entered the 
law firm of Parker. Hatch »!<: Sheehan. Judge 
Hatch was born November, 1852, at Friend- 
ship, Allegheny County. N. Y.. where he re- 
ceived a common school education. As the 
family was poor, he learned the blacksmith's 
trade, studying law meanwhile. He was at- 
tached to the law office of A. J. Lorish, of 
Attica, for two years, and was admitted to the 
bar in Buffalo in 1876. He succeeded Judge 
Barrett, deceased, on the Supreme Bench, in 
this city. He is a Republican, although both 
associates in his firm are Democrats. He is 
a fluent speaker, is Chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee of the County Lawyers' Associa- 



tion and member of numerous clubs, including 
the Union League, Manhattan, Lawyers' and 
Republican. 

The Old Bay Stale makes a contribution to 
the New York Bar in the person of Fisher A. 
Baker, born at Dedham. February, 1837. 
After graduation at Dartmouth College, 1859, 
he took a course at Albany Law School. When 
the Civil War burst upon this country, he 
promptly closed his law office and volunteered 
in the 18th Massachusetts regiment, which 
joined the 5th Corps. Army of the Potomac. 
Mr. Baker served three years. In 1865, In- 
removed to New York from Massachusetts 
and has practiced his profession here ever 
since. He has been especially successful in 
corporation cases. He is a director of the First 
National Bank of the City of New York and 
of the New Jersey General Security Co.: a 
trustee of the Bankers' Safe Deposit Co., and 
of the Hackley School, Tarrytown. When in 
college, he secured Phi Beta Kappa, and was 
a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity; 
he belongs to the Military Order of the Loyal 
Legion. He is a Republican and a Unitarian. 

In the Spring of 1885, an active, brown- 
haired, young man made his appearance at 
Albany as an Assemblyman from Schuyler 
County. He attracted attention within a 
month by the incisiveness of his speech and 
the logic of his arguments. No one supposed 
that he was after the leadership of his party, 
held by James W. Husted. known as "The 



228 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Bald Eagle of Westchester," who had him- 
self chosen Speaker whenever he pleased. 
When the Assembly convened in January, 
1SSS. however, Fremont Cole was elected 
Speaker by a Republican majority. He was 
young for the place, having Keen born, as his 
name indicated, during the Fremont cam- 
paign. Mr. Cole comes of Xew England 
stock; the Dennisons, his mother's family, 
were among the earliest English colonists in 
Connecticut. His father's family had emi- 
grated from Massachusetts to Putnam Co.. 
Xew York, where its head had "lopped the 
hushes" to a considerable tract of wilderness 
and thus established an undisputed title to 
the land. On a hit of stream, he buill Cole's 
mill and from this Daniel Cole, paternal 
grandfather of Fremont, — born at Carmel in 
177!), — the family descends. Two grandsons 
of this man were soldiers in the War of 1812. 
Fremont Cole is the third son of a family of 
eight children, all reared in Cobert, upon a 
farm that had been in the family for a cen- 
tury. Fremont passed the first nineteen years 
of life on this farm. His education was that 
of a country school during winter only. At 
twentv. he began the study of law in Judge 
Hurd's office, Schuyler County. Admitted to 
the Bar in 1880, he went to Watkins.the town 
of the wonderful glen, to practice. His politi- 
cal career had already begun. He had served 
as clerk to the Surrogate, when in Schuyler 
County. Hardly had he hung out his shingle 
at Watkins before he smashed the so-called 
post-office rino- in that place which had been 
managing the town to suit its members. He 
was elected to the Assemblies of 1885, '86, 
'87, '88 and '89, speaker last two terms. He 
served on the Railroad Committee and gained 
the hostility of the lobby. His work on the 
Judiciary Committee also attracted attention. 
Veritably, he was an excellent example of "the 
young man in politics." One thing about 
Fremont Cole that will not he forgotten by 
anyone who has heard him speak, is the con- 
fidence with which he states his views. In 
accepting the Speakership, he said: "Our 
high aim, kept ever in view, shall he to pre- 
serve this session free from the strictures of 
deserved criticism, and to adjourn it prompt- 
ly." He is now practicing law in this city. 



Hamilton College has furnished a great 
many brilliant men to this city, especially in 
the legal profession. Among them is James 
L. Bennett, horn at Durhamville, Oneida 
County, X. Y., in 1849, and graduated from 
Hamilton College in 1871. He entered the 
office of Judge Irving G. Vann, of Syracuse; 
was admitted to the bar of Onondaga County. 
He responded to the call of the metropolis in 
CSS.), where he at once plunged into the prac- 
tice of his profession. His success in cor- 
poration law has caused him to be chosen 
president of the Guaranteed Mortgage Com- 
pany of Xew York, President of the Long 
Island Realty Company, Director of the Man- 
hattan Mortgage Company, and a director 
of several similar organizations. Mr. Ben- 
nett was United States District Attorney, ap- 
pointed by President Cleveland, and served 
from IS!),} to IS!)!). He is somewhat of a 
hookworm, especially fond of history. He 
is an enthusiastic golf player and is a member 
of the Salisbury Club. When I asked him 
about his fads. Mr. Bennett denied having 
any. He admitted to being a collector of 
hooks. He lias traveled abroad and was most 
interested in the relics of Roman civilization, 
scattered through Europe. He is a member 
of the Alpha Delta Phi college fraternity and 
an active participant in its post-graduate 
annual meetings. Bennett & Kuster was 
organized in June. 1910. 

The younger partner in this prosperous 
firm is Louis E. Kuster. of city birth, dating 
from December, 1868. His education was 
obtained in the public schools and his law 
degree, from the Xew York University, in 
1893. Mr. Kuster made his own way in 
this world. In 1882, at the age of thirteen. 
he left the public schools to support himself. 
beginning work as a boy in the Astor library, 
where he remained three years and acquired 
a taste for reading; he was next employed in 
a mercantile house, until lS!)t. The first 
night law school in Xew York City was estab- 
lished in that year. It was originally under 
the patronage of the Xew York University, 
but developed into the Metropolis Law School, 
of which Abner C. Thomas, Surrogate of 
Xew York County, was the founder and dean. 
Mr. Kuster promptly took advantage of this 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



229 



FREMONT COLE 



.1 wiks I. BENNET'J 




LOUIS E. KUS i I i: 



MIUABEAB I. TOWNS 



230 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



innovation and spent his nights in the lecture- 
rooms -while working for a living in the day- 
time. He was asked to enter the law office 
of Aimer C. Thomas before he secured his de- 
gree and was admitted to the bar in 1894. 
During the legislative session of 1895, Mr. 
kuster represented the office of the Corpora- 
tion Counsel of the former city of Brooklyn, 
having charge of municipal legislation at 
Albany. He was connected with the Law- 
yers' Surety Company, of which Joel B. 
Erhardt, former Collector of the Port of New 
York, was president, soon becoming secretary 
of the organization and later its attorney. 
Resuming individual practice in 1903, Mr. 
Kuster accumulated a large clientage and 
argued many important cases. 

The legal profession has furnished several 
of the most prominent literary men in America 
and one is always gratified to learn that an 
active practitioner at the Bar finds time to 
cultivate a taste for hooks outside his legal 
library. In saying this. 1 have in mind a 
highly interesting member of the New York 
Bar, Mirabeau L. Towns, who especially 
appeals to me as a newspaperman, because 
he is probably the greatest authority on the 
law of libel in this city. During the past ten 
years, he has been counsel in more than 250 
libel suits — in all except six of these cases act- 
ing for the editor or newspaper. A proper 
interpretation of the law of libel, although 
the law itself be based upon a principle of 
justice which every conscientious editor thor- 
oughly endorses, is often exceedingly difficult. 
It may lie laid down as a journalistic axiom 
that libel is never intentionally committed! 
This is the theory upon which Mr. Towns 
proceeds to construct his briefs in libel cases. 
He comes to the metropolis from Alabama, 
where he was born in Russell County, Janu- 
ary, 1852. He is a descendant of Revolution- 
ary stock, through both sides of his house. 
lie was barely nine years old when the Civil 
War broke out and could avail himself of only 
such educational advantages as existed during 
those troublous times. At the conclusion of 
hostilities, he was sent to Germany and re- 
mained there seven years. On return to the 
I nited States, he came to this city and entered 
I he law school of New York University, from 



which he was graduated in 1S77. He began 
practice as a partner of Ludwich Sender, then 
Comptroller of the old City of Brooklyn. 
This firm continued until the death of Judge 
Semler, since winch time Mr. Towns has 
practiced under his own name. He removed 
to Manhattan in 1906 and opened an office on 
Broadway, where his success has been con- 
tinuous. 

Mr. Towns early took an active part in 
politics. Indirectly, he had a large part in 
the passage of the consolidation act. because 
he secured the nomination of Peter II. Mc- 
Nulty for the State Senate and conducted his 
campaign against both old parties with suc- 
cess. McNulty cast the deciding vote for 
consolidation, creating Greater New York of 
to-day. Mr. Town is fond of music and is 
known among his friends as the lawyer-poet, 
because he frequently introduces verse into 
his speeches. Mrs. Towns is distinguished 
for charities of a practical nature. She an- 
nually sends many children to homes in the 
West'. Last Christmas, she gave 20,000 toy 
concrete houses to children of the poor, be- 
speaking a hope of future home far from noisy 
city streets. Mr. Towns is a member of many 
clubs. 

Attracted to the profession of law by his 
intense liking for legal work, it is not strange 
that William T. Holt has been successful in 
practice. 

Mr. Holt was born in Esopus, I Ister 
County, X. Y., and was educated at the Kings- 
ton Academy and Albany Law School, grad- 
uating from the latter institution in 1876 and 
becoming managing; clerk in the office of 
Charles A. Fowler, of Kingston. X. Y. Later 
he practiced his profession for some years in 
Kingston, and was one of the counsel for the 
West Shore Railroad during its construction. 
He was connected with the Internal Revenue 
Department from 1887 to 1889, hut deter- 
mining to devote his entire time to the practice 
of the law, he came to Xew York in 1SS!) and 
became a member of the firm of Van Hoeven- 
berg & Holt, and upon the death of Mr. Van 
Hoevenberg organized the firm of Holt. War- 
ner & ( rail lard. 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



23 1 




WILLIAM T. Hiil.T 



JAMES A. ROBERTS 



RUSH TAGGART 



Mr. Holt resides in Richmond Borough, 

o 

Staten Island, and is Public Administrator of 
Richmond County. 

The state of Maine has sent to New York 
by way of Buffalo a lawyer of versatile ability 
in the person of James Arthur Roberts, who 
was born at Waterboro, in that State, March. 
1847, and the history of his family is as rugged 
and sturdy as the mighty forests and tower- 
inn- mountains of his original habitat. Amid 
such surroundings he grew up and prepared 
for college; entering Bowdoin. he became a 
member of the I). K. E., and graduating with 
the class of 1870. He saw some active fight- 
ing during the Civil War with the Seventh 
Maine battery. After getting his degree at 
Bowdoin. he settled in Buffalo and being ad- 
mitted to the bar, soon formed the firm of 
Roberts, Becker. Messer & Groat. Between 
1875 and 1894, in which year he became State 
Comptroller, Mi - . Roberts attained extraordi- 
nary success as a real estate lawyer: he served 
for three years as Park Commissioner of Buf- 
falo, and 'in 1ST!) and LS80 was elected to the 
Assembly of the State of Xew York. Since 
1902 he has been a resident of the metropolis, 
where realty has particularly claimed his at- 
tention. He is president of the Greater Xew 
York Home Company, the Xew Netherlands 
Home Company, and the Stuyvesani Home 
Company. In addition to many other posi- 
tions of trust, he is a director of the National 



Sugar Manufacturing ( !ompany,and other sim- 
ilar corporations. Mr. Roberts is the posse>>or 
of a library of rare Americana. He is presi- 
dent of the Xew York State Historical 
Society and a member of the Sons of the 
American Revolution. Considerable might be 
said about Mr. Roberts' Colonial ancestry. 
One of the first governors of the Colony of 
New Hampshire was his original ancestor, 
who came across the sea in 1623. He is a 
member of many social organizations. 

The Western Union Telegraph Company 
made another draft upon the '"Buckeye 
State" in the person of Rush Taggart for one 
of its most efficient minds. Mr. Taggart was 
born at Smitheville. Wayne County, Ohio, in 
1849, of Revolutionary stock, and took a de- 
gree at Wooster University, 1871. He was 
the second man in his class and an enthusias- 
tic Beta Theta Pi. Thence he went to the 
University of Michigan for a law course, com- 
pleted in 1875. When the Hayden Survey in 
the far West was ordered by the government. 
Mr. Taggart was detailed as assistant geolo- 
gist and spent two years in the work. On his 
return, he entered the service of the Penn- 
sylvania Company, acting as counsel at Pitts- 
burg and for the Eastern Ohio division of the 
great railway system. He came to Xew York 
in 1887 to enter the office of Dillon & Swayne. 
Four years later. Mr. Taggarl was appointed 
solicitor of the Western Union Telegraph ( !om- 



->:3-> 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



pan v. His fad is farming and he has a place 
at New Canaan, Conn., where he indulges his 
fancy and plays golf in the interim. lie is a 
member of numerous clubs, both in and out 
of town. 

The Public Service Commission of New 
York State has brought a number of men to 
the front in this city. The general counsel to 
that body, in the First District, is George S. 
Coleman, who was born in Flatlands (now 
part of Brooklyn) in 1856. lie was graduated 
from Wesleyan University in 1S?(» and re- 
ceived its honorary degree of LL.D., in 1908. 
While at Middletown he was editor of the 
Argus and Olla Podrida, college publications. 
He won eight scholarship prizes and held first 
rank in his class. He was a Psi Upsilon. 
After graduation Mr. Coleman began read- 
ing law with Countryman & Bowen, Coopers- 
town, \. Y., taught for a year in Albany, took 
a course at Columbia Law School and was 
admitted to practice in this city in May. 1880. 
He served as a clerk with Shearman & Sterling 
for two years and then became managing clerk 
for Bristow, Peet & Opdyke until 1885, when 
he was appointed Assistant Corporation Coun- 
sel, which office he held until IS!) 1 -', having 
special charge of matters relating to municipal 
taxation. The firm of Eustis, Foster & Cole- 
man was then formed and as a member there- 



of Mr. Coleman continued in general practice 
until 1899, when he returned to the city law 
department until his present appointment, 
nine years later. He is descended from Pil- 
grim and Puritan stock, his paternal ancestors 
including John Ilowland, of the '* Mayflower," 
1620, and Thomas Coleman, one of the asso- 
ciate founders of Nantucket. 

A name much on the public lips is that of 
William K. Willcox. distinguished political 
and social economist, eminent lawyer and 
chairman of the Public Service Commission 
of Xew York City. 

Mr. Willcox was born in Smyrna. X. \ .. 
in 1863. He took the degree of A.B. at the 
University of Rochester in 1886, and that of 
LL.B. at Columbia in 1889. 

Upon establishing his residence in Xeu 
York City and having been admitted to the 
Bar. Mr. Willcox took an active part in Repub- 
lican politics and ran for Congress against 
(). II. P. Belmont. Although he was not 
elected, lie distinguished himself by greatly 
reducing his opponent's vote. 

Mr. Willcox was appointed Park Commis- 
sioner by Mayor Low and served in that 
capacity throughout the latter's administra- 
tion. He later served as Postmaster of the 
City of Xew York for two and one-half years, 
until his appointment in 1907 to the chair- 




GEORGE S COLEMAN 



WILLIAM R. WII.LCOXJ 



HENRY W. SACKETT 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



233 



of all the more 
Alpha Delta Phi. 



manship i>t' the Public Service Commission. 
He is a member of the Hoard of Trustees of 
the Presbyterian Hospital, 
important clubs and of the 

A successful lawyer who has combined a 
sincere devotion to his own profession and a 
fondness for the treatment of legal questions 
in tin 1 editorial columns of the New York 
Tribune is Henry Woodward Sackett, born at 
Enfield. X. Y., 1853, educated ;it the Ithaca 
Academy and graduated at Cornell University, 
1875 (Phi Beta Kappa). He came to New 
York and while studying law did considerable 
newspaper work; he began practice in 1ST!) 
and subsequently became senior member of 
Sackett, Bacon & McQuaid, chiefly engaged 
in corporation work. Tin- present title of the 
firm is Sackett. Chapman & Stevens. lie was 
for six years a member of Troop A and Squad- 
A. Governor Blac 1 



A. Ijovernor black appointed him aide 
i staff with a rank of Colonel 



. durmg 

the Spanish-American War. Colonel Sackett 
served as Assistant Paymaster- General of 
New York in the Southern States. lie is a 
Republican in politics and an Episcopalian in 
religion. He has served as Secretary of the 
Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission, as 
trustee of Cornell University, vice-president 
of the American Scenic and Historic Preserva- 
tion Society, commissioner of the Fire Island 
State Park and trustee for the Clarkson Home 
for Children. He has lectured on law at Cor- 
nell University. His recreations are horse- 
back riding, golf and arboriculture. He be- 
longs to a number of clubs and spends his sum- 
mers at •• Quaker Ridge," Mamaroneck. 

When a young lawyer leaves Texas, at the 
age of twenty-four to take a fall out of New- 
York, with its strong skirmish line of estab- 
lished attorneys, he has to "make good" very 
soon or go back home! That's why I was 
early attracted to Martin W. Littleton, who 
came to New York in 1N!M>, hired and furnished 
an office and before he had a single client re- 
turned to Dallas to get married. His idea 
evidently was to eliminate all possibility of 
failure bv burning his bridges behind him. 
The story of Mr. Littleton's early life is simple 
enough. His father had lived in the moun- 
tains of East Tennessee, a small fanner. When 
the war broke out and the dissolution of the 



I nion was threatened, fanner Littleton and 
his five brothers utterly refused lo discuss the 
nice points of secession; they declared 
that the Union had protected them and for 
the Union they stood. When the war was 
over, the federal soldier returned to his devas- 
tated farm in Roane County. Tennessee, 
hoping to wring a living from the scanty earth. 
In January, 1872, Martin was born. Nine 
years later the Littleton family trekked West- 
ward to Texas and located upon a small farm. 
There were eight bovs in the family bv this 




\l \KTIN W. LITTLKTOX 

time and they were promptly sent into the cot- 
ton field. Sonic of them developed great 
expert ness as horsemen. Most of Martin's 
boyhood was spent on the Texas prairies. He 
attended school whenever time could be spared 
from his work or the weather was too bad for 
farm labor. The family returned to Ten- 
essee, but Martin and one of his brothers de- 
cided to remain in Texas. He tried his hand 
at railroading, was made a track-walker and 
saved money enough to attend school for eight 
months, at the end of which time he got day 
employment as a road builder, giving hi^ 
nights to the study of law. He was ex- 
amined and admitted to the bar before he 



234 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



was twenty years of age. He was almost 
immediately made Assistant Prosecuting At- 
torney. The following year he went to Dallas 
and soon attracted attention by volunteering 
as attorney for a friendless negro, hut clients 
didn't come and he sat for weeks, staying off 
landlord and landlady with promises of hope. 
Thus matters stood until the Bryan cam- 
paign when Martin Littleton took a firm 
ground against silver and was made an elector- 
at -large on the Palmer-Buckner ticket. Here 
he showed his wonderful ability as a spell- 
binder. He spoke in nearly every part of 
the state, generally capturing his audience, 
although unfavorably received and often threat- 
ened with knives and missiles. 

In New York Martin and his wife. Peggy, 
settled in a little flat on Washington Heights. 
He had brought some letters of introduction 
but nobody of importance would recognize 
them. He and his wife spent all their free 
evenings at the lectures in the public schools 
and the free libraries reading. Finally, when 
hope was about gone, Mr. Littleton presented 
a letter to George Foster Peabody, who se- 
cured for him a position as clerk in a Brooklyn 
\&\x office. Ultimately, he was appointed an 
Assistant District Attorney of Kings County. 
He was elected President of the Borough of 
Brooklyn in 19(13. To come to a big city 
without money, friends or influence is a brave 
and plucky thing to do; but New York is a 
generous, hearty place, and though already 



crowded has room for a sincere and earnest 
worker. Mr. Littleton's fame as a lawyer 
has been largely responsible for his splendid 
rise. He was chosen by the Democracy of Xew 
York to nominate Alton B. Parker at the 
Democratic National Convention of 1904. At 
the expiration of his official term in Brooklyn, 
he moved to Manhattan and has resided on this 
island ever since. The most picturesque incident 
in his career was his election to Congress in the 
First District in 1910. The district was 
strongly Republican and was especially noted 
as the home of Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. 
Littleton made more than a hundred speeches, 
no community being too small for him to 
visit. He spent days and nights in an auto- 
mobile, always accompanied by his wife, who 
became a thorough campaigner. There is no 
stopping a man like this! His election was a 
personal triumph, but only an incident to what 
the future holds for such a man. 

Charles Carrollton Clark, born at Ozark. 
Mo., in 1874. reached Xew York by way of 
Texas. His parents emigrated from south- 
western Missouri to the broad plains of Texas, 
where they took up ranch life. Young Clark 
lived the open-air existence of a cowboy and 
rancher on the Staked Plains from 1887 to '90. 
He then began the studv of law, was graduated 
LL.B. at the LIniversity of Texas and began 
practice at Dallas, with his brother, Ross L. 
Clark. That partnership existed until 1898. 




CHARLES C. CLARK 



HENRY S. HOOKER 



IRA J. DL'TTON 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



235 



when Mr. Clark removed to New York city 
and assisted Martin W. Littleton as trial coun- 
sel for the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. lie 
subsequently had much corporation practice, 
among his clients being the Edison Electrical 
Illuminating Co., of Brooklyn, the Estates 
of Long Beach ami other realty companies. 
He was alumni orator for the University of 
Texas in 1907. 

Henry Stewart Hooker was born in San 
Francisco in 1880. He was sent East to the 
Groton school, a well-known boys' school, 
modeled upon the best English lines. Thence 
he went to Yale, where he was graduated in 
the class of 1902. A course at the New York 
Law School followed, where he took a degree 
in 1904. Meanwhile, coming to New York, 
he entered the law office of De Lancey Xicoll 
and familiarized himself with routine work of 
his profession. Mr. Hooker adopted the legal 
profession because his ancestors had been law- 
yers and prominent in the affairs of the repub- 
lic. His great-grandfather was Governor Foote, 
of Mississippi, a descendant of Lawrence Wash- 
ington, half brother of George Washington, who 
was also an United States Senator. His grand- 
father was Senator William M. Stewart, of 
Nevada. Mr. Hooker became a member of 
the law firm of Crocker & Wicks in 1907 and 
is now a member of the firm of Marvin, 
Hooker & Roosevelt. He is a Republican 
and a member of the Lnion, Yale and Tuxedo 
clubs. 

Among the lawyers of this city who have 
given special attention to realty practice, as 
well as corporation law, is Ira Jay Dutton, 
born at Sherman. X. Y.. in 1859; educated 
at the Sherman High School, four years at 
Oberlin. and law courses at Columbia Univer- 
sity and the New York Law School. He 
began to practice in April, 1901. Love of the 
profession of law inspired him and he soon 
acquired an excellent clientage. In February, 
1907, he was injured in a railroad wreck at 
Brewster and was incapacitated for profes- 
sional work for 2^ years. Since then he has 
reestablished his practice. Mr. Dutton has 
always felt interested in country life, par- 
ticularly in abandoned farms of Xew England. 



He owns 1 , L 200 aires of these typical farms in 
Vermont with the intention of extending his 
acreage and reclaiming the wornout soil by 
scientific farming. In this task he has al- 
ready had fair success. He is a director 
in Westburv Park, L. I., in the Wemlinger 
Steel Piling Company, and is a firm believer 
in the development of our national resources. 
His forebears were of Revolutionary stock. 
Another contribution of North Carolina, to 
the New York Bar is Williamson W. Fuller, 
born at Fayetteville, August. 1858; graduated 
at the University of Virginia, 1N7S, and edu- 
cated in law at Greensboro, where he was 
admitted to the bar in 1SS0. At present he 
is general counsel for the American Tobacco 
Company and many other large corporations 
—a position he has won by sturdy work in his 
profession since his arrival in New York. I 
would like to refer to some of his early suc- 
cesses, but Mr. Fuller is averse. He is a mem- 
ber of the Bar Association of the City of New 
York, the North Carolina Society and South- 
ern Society of New York and the Aldine Asso- 
ciation. His clubs are the Metropolitan, 
Democratic. Pilgrims and Ardsley. 

Maine's contribution to the legal fraternity 
of this city is creditably represented by Jordan 
Jackson Rollins, born at Portland, December, 
1869. After a course at Dartmouth College, 
closing in 1892, he was graduated at the Har- 
vard Law School. He came to New York 
and studied with Daniel G. Rollins, securing 
an admission to the bar in 1894. He then 
formed a partnership with his preceptor and 
has since acted as counsel for many financial 
and commercial corporations. Mr. Rollins 
is a director in the Acker, Merrall & Condit 
Co., Casualty Company of America, New 
York City Railway Co., Windsor Trust Co., 
and McDonald Electrolytic Co. He is sec- 
retary of the New York Law Institute and 
member of the Bar Association. He belongs 
to many clubs, among them the American, 
Seawanhaka and Corinthian Yacht clubs; 
University, Harvard, Manhattan. Racquel and 
Tennis, New York Athletic, lnion League, 
Metropolitan, Psi Upsilon, Dartmouth and 
Rockawav Hunt clubs. 



236 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 




GEORGE 1. STERLING 



AKI'lllHAI.l) II WATSI >N 



1 1 ;rence l" a i { i . i . \ 



The law department of the City of New 
York has contained a great many historic 
men. The Corporation Counsel appointed l>\ 
Mayor Gaynor, Archibald Robinson Watson, 
is a young man to have attained such distinc- 
tion, lie hailed originally from the South. 
having been born at Holly Springs, Miss., in 
L872. After a private preparation, he entered 
the I diversity of Virginia where he received 
the degree of Bachelor of Letters in 1894. lie 
came of a race of lawyers, several of his an- 
cestors and immediate relatives giving their 
lives to that profession. Reaching New York 
at the age of twenty-seven, he organized the 
"Bench and Bar" Company and undertook 
the management of that successful legal mag- 
azine. Mr. Watson continued to edit this 
publication until he assumed public office 
under Mayor Gaynor. He came to New 
\i\vk with engagements for legal writing, 
which were carried on in the excellent law 
libraries of this city. This literary work 
yielded moderate support and bridged over 
I he storm and stress period of a young law- 
yer's life. His first real opportunity came in 
I he offer of a place in the offices of Xicoll, 
Anable & Lindsay, and was later admitted 
into full partnership in the firm which con- 
tinued until his appointment as Corporation 
Counsel. Mr. Watson's ambition was ex- 
pressed to the writer in the following language: 
'I considered Xew York the greatest city in 
the world and came, hoping to succeed where 
success would mean most." 



A lawyer who has rendered highly efficient 
service to his associates at the bar by the capa- 
ble manner in which he has served as an as- 
sistant in the Corporation Counsel's office, 
through many administrations since 1.SS5, is 
George L. Sterling:. He came to New York 
from Connecticut, where he was born De- 
cember. 18.5.5. His early education was at the 
two private schools of Strong and of Day at 
Bridgeport; he then entered Yale and was 
graduated in 1876. A two years' post-grad- 
uate course followed, and a law degree in 1880. 
He was promptly admitted to the bar and came 
to Xew York a year later, where he has prac- 
ticed his profession ever since. As before 
mentioned, he became an assistant in the Cor- 
poration Counsel's office in 1885 and recently 
lias introduced a new system of filing papers 
in the Hall of Records which has been of 
utmost use to lawyers who frequent that im- 
portant institution. Mr. Sterling is a member 
of the Bar Association of Xew York and of the 
Xew England Society. He belongs to the 
University, Manhattan and Yale clubs. 

The City Corporation Counsel's office is a 
splendid training school for young lawyers. 
Terence Farley entered there as a clerk when 
a very young man and while pursuing his 
legal studies at Columbia. He was born in 
this city. November, 1870, educated at the 
public schools and graduated from the Uni- 
versity of the City of Xew York. After ad- 
mission to the bar. he was appointed to a place 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



23< 



in the Corporation Counsel's office, having 
special charge of the appeal division, and in 
that post took part in. or handled entirely, 
many important cases. During the last twen- 
ty years, Mr. Farley lias served under seven 
different Corporation Counsellors, which is 
presumptive evidence that he gave entire sat- 
isfaction and did not mix politics with his 
official duties. lie is Chairman of the Regis- 
tration Committee of the Metropolitan Asso- 
ciation of the Amateur Athletic Union, a 
director of the Catholic and the Osceola clubs 
and a trustee of the Amateur Athletic Asso- 
ciation. 

Dudley Field Malone, now Assistant Cor- 
poration Counsel, was horn in New ^ ork 
city. 1881, took an A.B. degree at St. Francis 
Xavier College and an LL.B. at Fordham, 
serving as valedictorian of his class, lie 
entered the law office of Judge T. ('. O'Sul- 
livan in 1905, and was then associated for 
four years with the firm of Battle & Marshall. 
After that time, he practiced independently 
until appointed to his present place in the 
Corporation Counsel's office. Mr. Malone 
has had varied experience in criminal law. 
especially murder trials. He made a specialty 
of municipal law; has represented the Catholic 
Hierarchy and also the Confederation of 
Churches of Greater New York and the Inter- 
Denominational bodies of Greater Xew York 
before the Legislature. He was an active 
campaigner during the last gubernatorial and 



mayoralty contests, probably making more 
speeches than any other man. He is a mem- 
ber of the Dwight Club, the Delta Chi legal 
fraternity, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick ami 
of the Seventh Regiment. 

The long service and frequenl promotions 
of Curtis A. Peters is a fitting testimonial to 
his value as an attache of I he office of I he 
Corporation ( lounsel. 

Mr. Peters was horn at Porl Richmond, 
Staten Island, attended the College of the City 
of Xew York, and graduated from the New 
York Law School. After service as a clerk 
in the office of Ilornblower, Byrne, Miller & 
Poller, 30 Broad Street, shortly after gradua- 
tion, he was appointed, in 1!M) l >, as a Junior 
Assistant Corporation Counsel in lax cases, 
l>\ Corporation Counsel George L. Rives, 
lie was made full Assistant Corporation 
Counsel by Judge John J. Delaney, during 
his term as Counsel, and during subsequent 
administrations of the office until he was 
finally appointed Assistanl Corporation Coun- 
sel in charge of the division of taxes and 
assessments. As such he has charge of all 
tax litigation of the City of New York, including 
all special franchise tax litigation instituted by 
all the public utility corporations of the city. 

An energetic assistant on the staff of Cor- 
poration Counsel Watson is William P. Burr, 
born in Dublin in 1856 and brought to this 
country by his parents when seven years of 
age. He was educated at De La Salle Acade- 




DCDl.KV FIELD M \l "\l 



wili.iam i>. nrui: 



CURTIS A PETERS 



•j:;n 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



my, New York, St. James' College, Baltimore; 
and Columbia College Law School. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1ST!), rapidly acquiring 
distinction as a trial lawyer. 

Mr. Burr was named Assistant Corporation 
Counsel of New York in 1!)04. being placed 
in charge of the Division of Franchises, hav- 
ing supervision over all public utility corpora- 
lions operating in the city. At this post he 
has tried and won many notable cases. Espe- 
cially memorable is his contention for eighty- 
cent gas, in winch litigation he bore the brunt 
of a popular fight to sustain the constitution- 
ality of the law fixing the rate of SI) cents per 
1,000 feet for illuminating gas. On the evi- 
dence he offered before the Special Master. 
Arthur II. Masten. the contentions of the city 
as to the law's constitutionality were finally 
sustained by a unanimous decision of the 
United States Supreme Court, the opinion de- 
livered by Mr. Justice Peckham, January !>. 
1909. This was one of the most important 
commercial cases ever decided by that great 
tribunal, because it affects every service cor- 
poration in this country! Six per cent, return 
on the present value of property actually de- 
voted to the business of the Consolidated Gas 
Company was held to be reasonable and fair. 

As a trial lawyer Hector M. Hitchings has 
won many important cases, a number of them 
being on appeals before the higher courts, 
and in this line of work he has attained great 
prominence. 

Mr. Hitchings was born at Gravesend, Kings 
County, X. Y., December 12, 1855, the son 
of Benjamin G and Catherine Newberry 
(Moon) Hitchings. He graduated from Ex- 
eter Academy in 1874 and from Amherst Col- 
lege in 1876, and then took up the study of 
law in the office of his father. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1879 and since that time 
has been very active in his profession, being 
now senior partner in the legal firm of Hitch- 
ings (S: Dow, with offices at No. loo William 
Street. Mr. Hitchings is a Republican and 
lias always taken an active interest in politics. 
He is an elder in Brick Presbyterian Church, 
a trustee of Christ Church and the Church 
of the Covenanl and trustee and secretary of 
the McAuley Cremorne Mission. He is a 
member of the West Side Republican, River- 



side. 21st Assembly District Republican, En- 
glewood Golf, Shelter Island Golf and the 
Drug and Chemical clubs. 

Always active in New York politics. Thomas 
F. Conway has been partially rewarded for his 
zeal and constancy to the Democratic party 
by elevation to the Lieutenant Governorship, 
but his friends assert that the party's obliga- 
tion will not be fully discharged until he is 
chosen as Chief Executive of the State. 

Mr. Conway is a successful lawyer who 
commenced life as a school teacher and who, 
while a "wizard of the birchen rod," studied 
law assiduously until he was competent to 
pass the examination and be admitted to the 
bar, in 1885. Always active in politics. Mr. 
Conway was nominated for Attorney-General 
in 1898 and at the Rochester Convention in 
1910 was candidate of the northern section for 
Governor, being unanimously given second 
place on the ticket when Dix was nominated. 
He adheres strictly to the policies embodied 
in the platform and is active in carrying them 
out. 

Mr. Conway is a member of the firm of 
Conway & Weed, and has a huge practice 
in the city, state and Federal courts. 

The old South state contributes the next 
lawyer that conies to mind, R. Floyd Clarke, 
born at Columbia, South Carolina, October, 
1859, but removed with his parents to New 
York, directly after the Civil War. Here, he 
attended the public schools and was grad- 
uated at the College of the City of New York, 
1SS0. He was among the last students who 
sat under the magic tongue of Dr. D wight at 
( 'olumbia Law School, where he took a degree, 
cum laude, winning in lSH^ the first prize in 
municipal law. Next, I knew of him as 
managing clerk of Olcott & Nostre, admitted 
a member of the firm in CSS.'}. In 1885, he 
organized the partnership of Clarke & Cul- 
vert, which continued until 1903, since which 
time Mr. Clarke has practiced on his own 
account. He has been counsel at various 
times for large interests and corporations, 
memorably the New York and New Jersey 
Bridge Company, which had charters from 
the two states to throw a span over the Hud- 
son River, and later for the North River 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



239 




HECTOR M. HITCH I Mi: 



THOMAS F. CONWAY 



II. FLOYD CLARKE 



Bridge Co., which possesses asimilar grant from 
the Congress of the United States. Mr. Clarke 
was also the legal advisor of the George A. 
Fuller Co. when it first entered New York, 
and of the Lake Superior Corporation. He 
tried against ex-Surrogate Rastus S. Ransom, 
the famous Kemp will ease. In international 
litigation. Mr. Clarke represented the claim 
of the United States & Venezuela Co., — mean- 
ing the Critchfield asphalt concession. — against 
the South American republic, which finally 
went to The Hague Tribunal and was settled 
for $47.5.000. He has handled the claims of 
private individuals in arbitration cases be- 
tween Mexico and the United States, regard- 
ing the boundary dispute over the EI Chamzal 
Tract of lands at El Paso, Texas; he acted 
as private counsel for Porter Charlton in 
habeas corpus and before the United States 
Supreme Court to prevent, his deportation to 
Italy under conditions arising from Italy's 
breach of the extradition treaty with the 
United States. 

Mr. Clarke is author of 'The Science of 
Law and Lawmaking" and of numerous 
magazine articles on legal questions. He is 
a member of the Par Associations of the 
State, City and County and of the American 
Bar Association and American Society of In- 
ternational Law and of the Delta Kappa 
Epsilon and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities. 
Colonial Order of the Acorn and the Xew 
York Southern Society. He is an enthusias- 
tic yachtsman and owns the fast sloop *' Ata la." 



His clubs are the University. New York, 
Larchmont and Atlantic Yacht chilis and the 
Manhattan Chess Club. 

The ,l Okl North State" has contributed a 
lawyer of unusual success to the bar of the 
metropolis. I refer to (leorge Gordon Pattle, 
born on Coolspring Plantation. Edgecomb 
county. N. C, near the close of 1808. He 
was sent to the Hanover Academy, at Rich- 
mond. Ya.: then attended the University of 
North Carolina; took a degree of the Univer- 
sity of Virginia, Charlottesville, and com- 
pleted his studies at Columbia Law School 
in this city. After leaving Charlottesville, in 
1889, Mr. Pattle read law for six months with 
his brother, Judge Jacob Pattle. at Rocky 
Mount, prior to entering at Columbia. In 
1892, he was appointed a Deputy Assistant 
District Attorney by Dc Lancev Nicoll, and 
ultimately became an Assistant District At- 
torney, serving until March, 1<S!)7. Retiring 
from office, he formed a partnership with Par- 
tow S. Weeks, and soon after the firm became 
Weeks. Pattle & Marshall, by the introduction 
of II. Snowden Marshall. Mr. Weeks later 
withdrew from the firm and it then became 
Pattle & Marshall. When In- was Assistant 
District Attorney, Mr. Pattle had charge of the 
Grand Jury of the County of Xew York for 
three years, presenting cases and trying in- 
dictments iluring that period. No indictment 
drawn by him ever had a demurrer against it 
sustained, due to technical defect. 



-240 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




GEI >RGE i.i IRDI >S It \ II 1.1. 

lie rigidly adhered to a determination 
not to be associated with any corporation in 
any capacity except that of counsellor. Mr. 
Battle belongs to the Metropolitan. Calumet, 
Manhattan, St. Nicholas, Seneca and West 
Side Democratic dubs. He is a member 
of the Bar Associations of this city, state and 
nation, the Southern Society. North Carolina 
Society. The Virginians, and various benevo- 
lent associations. He is a Democrat, and re- 
ceived the nomination for District Attorney 
in 1 !•()!). but was defeated by Mr. Whitman. 

Austria has given to New York a capable 
lawyer in the person of Max D. Steuer. born 
in the empire in 1871 and brought to this 
country by his parents when a youth. lie 
was educated in the public schools and sold 
newspapers morning and night. His hunger 
lor knowledge and desire to fit himself for 
a legal career induced him to enter the College 
of the City of New ^ ork in spite of the neces- 
sity of making his own way and assisting his 
parents. He gave private instructions in 
Civil Service in the Regents' examinations and 
during college vacations he worked in woolen 



\1 \X H STEUER 

houses. During his sophomore year. I he 
financial condition of his family became such 
that he was forced to discontinue his studies 
and to accept a clerkship in the foreign mails 
department of the general post-office. He con- 
tinued his studies privately, until October. 
1890, when he resigned his clerkship, much 
to the regret of Postmaster Van Cott. to enter 
Columbia Law School. At the end of a three 
years' course he was given his degree of LL.B.. 
and won a money prize of $150. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1892, but continued in 
the law school for an additional year. He 
had specialized in mercantile law and his 
success was almost immediate. He tells me 
he has tried over -2(>00 jury cases, of which 
he has won !).) per cent. A remarkable cir- 
cumstance is that in more than fifty per cent, 
of all cases Mi 1 . Steuer has acted as counsel for 
the defendant. He is at present counsel for 
over two hundred law firms in New \ ork City. 
His recent defense of Senator Gardiner and of 
Raymond Hitchcock, the actor, were much 
applauded. His remarkable success in defense 
has occasioned much comment at the bar. 

Mr. Steuer is a member of the Progress, 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



241 



Democratic and Tamorora clubs and is con- 
nected with the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian 
Society, the United Hebrew Charities, the 
Hebrew Orphan Asylum. Educational Alliance. 
Philanthropic Hospital. I Ionic for Aged and 
Infirm Hebrews, Young Men's Hebrew Asso- 
ciation, Mount Sinai Hospital, Montefiore 
Home. Girls' Technical School, Sunshine So- 
ciety for Blind Children and other charitable 
institutions. 

A lawyer of this city who makes a specialty 
of commercial, ecclesiastical, probate and real 
estate law is Edward Sears Clinch, a man 
who never lias lived outside of Xew York, is 
a graduate of its City College, where he took 



former Governor John William Griggs came 
from that state and established a law office 
here. He was born in Newton, X. 
1N4!>, and .....,,,,>.! <■> ..,,..<.,, i.. 
He began 



educated al Lafayette College. 

>ractice at Paterson, X. .1.. but, 

entering politics, soon went to the New Jersey 



Assembly, then became 
acting as president of t lial 



a State Senator, 
body in 1886. He 
was elected Governor as a Republican in 
IS!)."), resigning two years later to enter the 
Cabinet of President McKinley as Attorney 
General, where he served until 1901. He is 
a member of the Permanent Court of Arlnl ni- 
tration of The Hague. At the close of his 
official career at Washington, Mr. Griggs 




l.l>\\ Alii) S CLINCH 



JOHN \V. GRIGGS 



CHARLES P. DORR \M V 



his degree in 1865, and of Columbia Law 
School two years later. Mr. Clinch was born 
in this city in 1N4<>. He began practice upon 
reaching his majority and was actively en- 
gaged in his profession until 1906, when he 
was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court 
for the First District of Xew York. In poli- 
tics, he has ever been a consistent Republican 
ami in 1!MI4 was a Presidential Elector on the 
Roosevelt ticket. He is a member of the 
National Geographic Society, the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science. 
the National Audubon Society. Municipal Art 
Society. Xew York Historical Society. Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History, the Par 
Associations of the city, state and nation, and 
the American Society of International Law. 
The legal profession of the metropolis gained 
a distinguished recruit from Xew Jersey when 



opened an office in this city. He is President 
and Director of the Marconi Wireless Tele- 
graph Co. of America, a director of the Cor- 
poration Trust Co. of X. J.. Xew York Tele- 
phone Co.. and American Locomotive Co. 

A successful specialist in real estate law is 
Charles P. Dorrance, who hails from Pennsyl- 
vania, having been born at Carbondale in 
1852. After an academic course, he went to 
Rutgers College. Xew Brunswick, X. J.. 
where he took the degree of A. P. in 1873. lie 
studied law at Freehold, and was admitted 
to the Supreme Court of Xew Jersey as an 
attorney in 1876, and as a counsellor in 1879. 
After practicing at Long Branch, he moved to 
Xew York City in 1881. He came to this 
eitv at a time that marked a wonderful move- 



242 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



ment in real estate values and soon developed 
a large practice. He is one of the best in- 
formed authorities on the law applicable to 
titles to real estate in the city. Mr. Dorrance 
takes an active interest in politics, although he 
has never been a candidate for public office; 
he is an ardent Republican and was for a 
number of years a member of the West Side 
Republican Club. His interest in religious 
matters is also strong, lie being a member of 
the (Dutch) Reformed Church. In college, 
he was a sincere fraternity man and belonged 
to the Chi Phi. In 1909 lie was the President 
of the New York Association of that fraternity. 



He was reelected in 1 !)()!). his present term 
expiring December 31, 1!) L 2.'5. 

Justice Laughlin is a member of the Man- 
hattan, Catholic and Republican clubs. He 
resides in Buffalo, X. Y. 

A comparatively young member of the 
Supreme bench of this state is Charles L. 
Cluy, born in Xew York City, 1856, of French- 
Canadian Catholic parentage on his father's 
side and of Connecticut Presbyterian stock on 
his mother's. He was educated at the College 
of the City of Xew York but left before grad- 
uation, to become a clerk in a shipping firm. 
After various similar employments, hi' learned 




FRANK C. LAUGHLIN 



ill \i;i.i;s L. (U'Y 



VICTOH .1 IMiWLING 



There are few jurists in Xew York State 
who enjoy a higher reputation than Justice 
Frank C. Laughlin, of the Supreme Court. 
Justice Laughlin was born in Xewstead. X. Y., 
July 20, 1859, and was educated at the Union 
School. Lockport, X. Y. He was admitted 
to the liar in 1882 ami at the commencement 
of his legal career took a deep interest in 
Buffalo's municipal affairs, being Assistant 
City Attorney and City Attorney from 1886 
to 1891. He was made Corporation Counsel 
in 1893 and was elevated to a justiceship of 
the Supreme Court in 1895, sitting in the 
Eighth District. He was assigned to the 
Appellate Division in Rochester in 11)01. and 
to the Appelate Division in Xew York City 
in 1902, and has twice been reassigned thereto. 



stenography and became an official court re- 
porter. He then entered Columbia Law 
School and was admitted to the Bar in 1881. 
Justice (iuv tells me he went into law in 
"pursuit of the line of least resistance." He 
was for many years a member of the firm of 
Lexow. MacKellar, (iuv & Wells; he was a 
law assistant to the Surrogate for two years, 
was a State Senator, 1894-'!)8, when he in- 
troduced and passed the School Teachers' 
Pension Hill. He was School Commissioner 
for two years; Assistant Corporation Counsel, 
and on November (>, 1906, was elected Justice 
of the Supreme Court for First Department 
for the term expiring December :>1, 1920. In 
politics Justice (iuv has always shown inde- 
pendence, although inclined to be a democrat. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




MICHAEL P. O'CONNOR 



.1. ARTHUR I1II. 1 1 >\ 



Prior to the secession of South Carolina, a 
few resolute Southern men did all they could 
to stem the rising tide of revolt. They be- 
lieved in the Union of the States, "one and 
inseparable," and were far-sighted enough to 
see that the Southern ( Confederacy, even if suc- 
cessful in securing independence, would no) 
begin its career as a first-class power and 
could not long maintain its place among the 
independent nations of the world. Probably 
the most prominent of these men to oppose 
secession was the popular Southern orator of 
that day. Michael P. O'Connor, of Charlestown, 
S. C. He felt no special friendship for the 
North hut argued strictly from the view-point 
of a practical man who foresaw the disruption 
of a great nation, the southern part of which 
ultimately would fall into the possession of 
England or France. Tp to the hour of the 
final act of the South Carolina legislature, 
Mr. O'Connor sturdily continued his unpop- 
ular struggle as an anti-secessionist. He was 
a lover of liberty, his father had Keen an Irish 
patriot before him and he was himself a friend 
and co-worker with Patrick Ford in the cause 



of Irish independence. When South Caro- 
lina took the irrevocable step. Mr. O'Connor 
stood by the act of its legislature and became 
a Confederate, — much as did Robert E. Lee 
of Virginia. He was the first member of Con- 
gress to represent South Carolina at the close 
of the Civil War. I never knew the sturdy old 
campaigner, but his son, Michael P. O'Connor, 
born in Columbia. 1865, has been practicing 
law in this city since 1890. He was educated 
at the schools of his native city and graduated 
at Charleston College. He was admitted to 
the bar in this city anil since that time has 
been eminently successful as a trial lawyer. 
His practice has been particularly devoted to 
litigated cases and he has handled many 
prominent jury trials. He has achieved dis- 
tinction in damage suits against railroads and 
other corporations. His practice extends over 
Manhattan and Pong Island, having his 
offices on Broadway, Manhattan, and Jackson 
avenue. Long Island City. Mr. O'Connor 
served for ten years in the New York Seventh 
Regiment and was commissioned from there 
as a lieutenant in the Twelfth Regiment. 



,'44 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 






One of the distinguished younger members 
of the metropolitan bar is J. Arthur Hilton. 
who was born in Cohoes, of this State, edu- 
cated at Colgate University and received a 
professional training at the New York Law 
School. His capacity as a trial lawyer has 
won high praise from many of the older mem- 
bers of the bar. Especially distinctive are 
his methods in the conduct of cross-examina- 
tions. He has specialized in insurance law 
and is an authority on statutes affecting rail- 
roads. Mi-. Hilton recently won a suit brought 
nor breach of contract involving a quarter mil- 
lion dollars. In politics, lie lias acted in an 
advisory capacity With the Kjngs County 
Republican Committee, but never has been 
a candidate for office. He is an omniverous 
reader; fond of sports, especially the hunting 
of big game in the Adirondack^, where he 
has a summer camp, or shooting ducks on the 
Chesapeake. He lias an eight hundred acre 
farm in Dutchess County, where he has in- 
stalled all the latest scientific helps to tilling 
the soil. He is ""a practical farmer." because 
he has made farming financially successful. 
He is. also, a trustee of the Greenwich Baptist 
Church, a bank director and an active Mason. 

Xo New Yorker known to me so harmoni- 
ously combines law and politics as Col. 
Abraham Gruber, who began his legal career 
as an office boy at thirteen with a firm of inter- 
national fame and at the end of six years' 
service had familiarized himself with every 
working detail of the profession. He utilized 
the knowledge thus gained to spend his days 
serving a collection agency and his nights in 
the study of law. He had no sooner attained 
his majority than he applied for admission 
to the bar and successfully gained the coveted 
prize, although he had never entered a college 
or school of law. He soon developed an active 
interest in politics and affiliated himself with 
the Republican party. I am uncertain as to 
the exact date in which he acquired control in 
his Assembly District but it was somewhere 
in the eighties. As his practice grew, "Abe," 
as lie prefers to be called, developed capacity 
as an after-dinner speaker and as such was 
much in demand. He tells me he never 
suffered from stage fright or had cause to 
lament the loss of a word. He is a fluent 



linguist and no word in German or English 
dare say to him, "Nay!" Abraham Gruber 
is a product of the city, having been born. 
raised and developed here; he cannot be de- 
scribed as a tribute of the West to the East! 
He is thoroughly metropolitan, having first 
seen the light here in 1861 and obtained his 
education at the public schools, reinforced 
by constant private study. 




c II \KI.KS S. GUGGENHEIMER 

A highly popular and philanthropic man 
who was engaged in politics in this city be- 
cause he believed he could be of service to his 
fellow citizens was the late Randolph Guggen- 
heimer, first president of the Municipal Coun- 
cil under the consolidation charter. His be- 
nevolence in behalf of the New York newsboys 
has been continued by his widow. Charles S. 
Guggenheimer, a son of this worthy citizen, 
followed his father in the law. He was born 
in this city in September, 1877, was educated 
at the public schools, the Halsey School, Johns 
Hopkins University and completed his law 
course at the New York Law School in IS!)!). 
He also took a special course in History and 
Political Economy. Meanwhile, he had en- 
tered the law office of his father as a student in 
1897. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



•24.-) 




DANIEL F COHALAN 



PET] R A III NDKli'k 



JAMES \ ' I'Gl >l!\l VN 



Since his election to the United States 
Senate, to succeed J)r. Depew, James A. 
O'Gorman has become a national figure. 
His choice for that high office was made after 
a contest lasting 74 days, in which William 
F. Sheelian and the late Edward AT. Shepard 
were principal figures. Although Justice 
O'Gorman had been a presiding officer of the 
Supreme Court since 1900, he had never 
prominently challenged public attention apart 
from his judicial work. He was born in this 
city. May. lS(i(); educated at the public gram- 
mar schools and College of the City of New- 
York, lie took his law course in New York 
University; later, he received LL.D. from 
Yillanova, Fordham and New York Univer- 
sity. He was admitted to the bar in 1NS-2 and 
practiced eleven years until he became a 
Justice of a district court in 1893. He is 
the first of the name ever to lie elected to 
the United States Senate or House of 
Representatives. 

Senator O'Gorman's public service has 
been marked by ability, courage and industry. 

One of the most capable justices of the 
Supreme Court of the State of New Y>rk is 
Peter Aloysius Hendrick, who was elected to 
that high office in 1907 and will serve until 
1920. 
and a 

schools and at IVnn Yan Academy, took a 
degree at Fordham University in 1878. His 
alma mater has since conferred upon him the 



He was born at Penn Yan in 1856 
ter preparatory courses at private 



honorary degree of LL.D. The special 
branches in which he excelled in college were 
philosophy, metaphysics and Latin. He al- 
ways maintained an active interest in athletics: 
was captain of his university baseball team 
for three years. He began law practice at 
Auburn. N. "\ .. and was corporation counsel 
of that city. l883-'85. Mr. Hendrick is the 
youngest member of a family of l(i children: 
a brother of the Pt. Rev. Thomas A. Hen- 
drick. 1).]).. LL.D.. Bishop of Cebu, 1'. I.; 
of Monsignor Joseph W. Hendrick. Domestic 
Prelate to Pope Pius X.. and of Col. M. J. 
Hendrick. U. S. Consul at Moncton, X. P. 
His is one of the oldest and best known 
Catholic families in the state of New York. 

The Supreme Pencil of this state possesses 
an active Justice in the person of Daniel F. 
Cohalan, born at Middletow n. Orange County, 
in 1868. After preparatory studies at the 
public schools and at Walkill Academy, he 
entered Manhattan College, from which he 
was graduated in the classical course. Since 
coming to New \ ork. he has been a trustee 
of his alma nutter for 14 years. Entering 
the law office of the late Judge John G. Wil- 
kin, he secured admission to the liar and be- 
gan practice in this city. He took an active 
part in Democratic politics; was engaged in 
many notable legal cases and secured a large 
practice. He was a delegate to the Demo- 
cratic National Conventions of 1 !)(•!■ and 1908. 
He has been a delegate to all Xew York State 



24(i 



THE MOOR of NEW YORK 



Democratic Conventions since 1902. For sev- 
eral years, he was chairman of the law com- 
mittee of Tammany Hall; from l<S!)(i to the 
time of his appointment to the Supreme 
Bench to fill a vacancy, he was a member of 
the Democratic State ( Committee. Mr. Cohal- 
an belongs to the Slate. County and City Bar 
Associations, lie was elected Justice of the 
Supreme Court. November 7. 1911. 

Sidney Harris is as prominent and popular in 
society as in clubdom. In politics he has fig- 
ured for the last twenty years. At the bar and 
in public office in his quiet and effective way 
he has won the respect of the judiciary, of his 
professional brethren and of the public. Born 
in New York City in 1866, the son of Sidney 
Smith Harris and Miriam Coles Harris, re- 
ceived his preliminary education at St. Paul's 
School. Concord. N. H. Later, at Columbia 
University, in addition to pursuing his studies 
with average zeal, he distinguished himself in 
athletic competitions. He rowed on the fresh- 
man eight-oared crew that defeated the Har- 
vard freshmen at New London in 1884, in the 
best time on record for two miles. He rowed 
number six on the 'Varsity crews of Columbia, 
1886 and 1SS7, at New London in contests 
with Harvard. Columbia was victorious in 
1886, and in the same year decisively won 
against the University of Pennsylvania crew. 

Mr. Harris received the degree of B.A. 
from Columbia University and in INN!) he 
was graduated also from the Law School of 
the University with the degree of LL.B. 

In March, 1890, Governor Hill appointed 
General Daniel E. Sickles Sheriff of New 
York County, to reform notorious abuses in 
the administration of that office. In the selec- 
tion of his deputies. General Sickles, himself 
a lawyer of great ability, evinced marked 
preference for young men of that profession. 
He did not deem political experience a neces- 
sary qualification for his associates, but he did 
want men whose legal education would enable 
them to measure responsibility and to discern 
the ethical elements of public questions. Mr. 
Harris was appointed to one of the most im- 
portant deputyships and served until January 
1, 1891. For a year he practiced law with his 
father. Sidney Smith Harris, who died in 1892. 

Sidney Harris has been eminently success- 



ful in genera] civil practice. He has fre- 
quently served as referee in important cases 
and as Commissioner in matters affecting the 
public streets, parks and water supply. In 
]!)()!). he was appointed by Justice Howard, 
of the Supreme Court, Chairman of the High- 
way Ashokan Reservoir Commission. This 
board is a quasi-judicial body, charged with 
the duty of adjusting and adjudicating claims 
arising from changes in the public highways 
of Ulster County, incident to the construction 
and sanitation of the Ashokan watershed. 
For many knotted questions decided, there 
were no precedents in the law reports and the 
decisions rendered by the Commission have 
been affirmed hv the Appellate Courts. Mr. 
Harris is still serving as Chairman. 

On April to. 1911, Mayor Gaynor ap- 
pointed Mr. Harris to the Municipal Ex- 
plosives Commission, of which the Fire Com- 
missioner is Chairman ex-offieio. 

The ancestors of Sidney Harris were British. 
The American branch of the Harris family 
tree was planted by ancestors who came over 
from the British Isles between 1625 and 1640. 

Miriam Coles Harris, mother of Sidney 
Harris, is a gifted novelist, who has published 
a score of books, of which her maiden effort 
was "Rutledge." Social life and conditions 
in America furnished the theme for this book, 
which appealed in 1860. "Rutledge" was 
the most popular novel which up to that time 
had been published in this country. The 
author had written several chapters before 
she realized that she had not given a name 
to the heroine. Then it occurred to her that 
if she could finish the book without supplying 
a name, the idea would be unique. This she 
succeeded in doing admirably and so the 
heroine is still nameless. "Rutledge" had a 
large sale abroad as well as in the United 
Slates. The latest work of Mrs. Harris, 
'The Tents of Wickedness " appeared in 1!)()7. 

The father of Sidney Harris was Sidney 
Smith Harris, a talented and successful lawyer. 

Sidney Harris is a member of the Union, 
the Brook and St. Anthony clubs, the Colum- 
bian Order and the Bar Association of the ( ity 
of New York. He is also a member of Tam- 
many Hall and has been since 1891 a member 
of the General Committee of that organization. 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



247 




WILLIAM H. PAGE 



SIDNEY HARRIS 



HENRI NEVILLE TIKFT 



The famous "Seaboard" litigation will live 
in the minds of the legal fraternity for a long 
time. William II. Page, a New York lawyer, 
who conducted this ease in association with 
other attorneys, has also been counsel in many 
street railway cases of importance. The firm 
of Page, Crawford & Tuska, which has been 
concerned professionally in much Cuban liti- 
gation, maintains a branch office in Havana. 
Horn at Paris, France, in 1861, William Page 
was educated at the Boston Latin School and 
later was graduated from Harvard University 
with the degree of A.B. He studied at the 
Columbia Law School, receiving the degree 
of LL.B. He has a charming country place 
at Far Hills, N. J., and a town residence. He 
is a member of several leading clubs, including 
the Harvard, Xew York Athletic, Automobile 
of America and Somerset Hills' Country. 

Securing his first practical experience in the 
law, after admission to the bar, as an Assistant 
District Attorney under Elihu Root, Henry 
Neville Tifft continued in that office under Ex- 
Governor Dorsheimer and Stephen II. Walker. 
It was a splendid training. Mr. Tifft was 
born at Geneva, in this state, in 1854, hut 
early came to Xew York City, where his par- 
ents had resided for many years. He attended 
the public schools, took a degree of \i.^. at 
the College of the City of New York in '?:{. 
and M.S. in 1876, and ended with a course at 
Columbia Law School. After teaching for 
four years in the public schools of this city, 
he began an active career in law as indicated 



above. Having a special interest in educa- 
tional matters he served as a school inspector 
in ln's district, and as chairman of the 14th 
district under Mayors Strong, Van Wyck and 
Low. His activity led to his appointment 
on the Board of Education in 1903, where he 
remained several years, having been elected 
to the Presidency in 1 1)04- and reelected in 
1905. His interest in the Y. M. C. A. has 
been continuous and the progress of the West 
Side Branch is largely due to him. In 1886, 
Mr. Tifft began practice with ex-Judge 
Granville P. Ilawes, until the hitter's death, 
since which time he has been in the profession 
alone. Mr. Tifft inherited a liking for the 
law from his father, who had many friends in 
the profession. He is a director of the Chepul- 
tepec Land Improvement Company of the 
City of Mexico. In college, he won Phi 
Beta Kappa and was a I). K. E. man. 

In recent years no Assistant District At- 
torney of Xew York County has been a more 
prominent figure at the criminal bar than 
James W. Osborne, member of an old North 
Carolina family, and who was born at Char- 
lotte, forty-odd years ago. After completing 
his education and his law studies, he came to 
New York to practice. His special fondness 
was for criminal law and having distinguished 
himself by several notable defences of men 
charged with crime. District Attorney Jerome 
chose him as one of his assistants, after the 
spirited election of ten years ago. Mr. Os- 
borne's conduct of the prosecution against 



2 18 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Albert T. Patrick, charged wit li procuring 
the murder of millionaire Rice is one of the 
memorable features of New York legal history. 
The trial was of great length and conviction 
was obtained wholly on circumstantial evi- 
dence and the testimony of Rice's valet, Jones. 
who swore than Patrick had induced him to 
chloroform the aged man. MY. Osborne's 
address to the jury at the conclusion of the 
case was one of the most exhaustive legal 
arguments ever heard in a New York court 
I was present and listened to it. Unlike old- 
school lawyers, such as Graham or Brady, 
the speaker did not rely upon flights of oratory, 
but hammered theory, deduction and logical 
conclusion into the men in the box for several 
hours. Patrick was sentenced to death but 
was afterwards commuted to life imprisonment. 



of NewJYork was defendant and recoveries 
against the Municipality were less than one- 
half of one per cent, of the amounts claimed 
by litigants. In 1890, he was appointed First 
Assistant District Attorney and for four years 
conducted the prosecution of all the principal 
criminal trials in New York county. Espe- 
cially memorable are his convictions of Dr. 
Carlisle W. Harris, Dr. Robert Buchanan, 
Frank Ellison, Fanshawe, Stroud. Stephanie, 
Gardner and other notorious criminals. He 
has been general counsel for the Metropolitan 
Street Railway Company since 1894, and has 
personally defended many important litiga- 
tions against that corporation. Mr. Well- 
man is a member of the University, Man- 
hattan and New \ ork Yacht clubs. 




JAMES W. OSBORNE 



FRANCIS L. WELLMAN 



PATRICK E CAM AH AN 



One of the most successful lawyers of the 
present generation in this city is Francis L. 
Wellman, who was graduated from Harvard 
I niversity in 1N?(> and Harvard Law School 
two years later. On his admission to the 
Massachusetts bar. he was appointed instruc- 
tor at the Boston Law School and soon after a 
lecturer in the Harvard Law School. He came 
to New- York in 1883 with the prestige of a 
Boston partnership with former U. S. Senator 
Bainbridge Wadleigh and was soon appointed 
an assistant in the office of the Corporation 
Counsel. During seven years in that office, he 
had charge in all jury trials in which the City 



The Borough of Brooklyn is as remarkable 
for its lawyers as for its ministers of the ( Jospel. 
Easily in the front rank is Patrick Eugene 
Callahan, who was born among the people he 
has since so efficiently served in 1861, exactly 
one month after Fort Sumter had been fired 
upon. This shuts out a war record. He at- 
tended public school. St. Patrick's Academy, 
St. John's College. Brooklyn, and then took 
a law course at Columbia College, under the 
late Theodore W. Dwight. He was graduated 
and admitted to the bar in 1<SN.'>. He began 
the practice of his profession at once. He 
was appointed an Assistant District Attorney 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



249 




WILLIAM ,1 FANNING 



1 R \\K MOS 



I n\\ \l:n M GROUT 



in 1891 and served with distinction five years. 
When the Building Department of his native 
city was confronted with unexpected diffi- 
culties under new tenement-house statutes. 
Mr. Callahan was promptly chosen as counsel 
for that Department and proved himself of 
much worth in reconciling builders to the 
complicated regulations. This success liter- 
ally commanded for him a place in the Cor- 
poration Counsel's office of Greater New 
York, where he was engaged in trial work for 
six years. He was twice nominated as a 
Democrat for a Supreme Court Justiceship 
in 1910. 1911. hut owing to the combination 
of political parties was defeated. He belongs 
to the Montauk Club and is a Knight of Co- 
lumbus. 

Another lawyer who has taken an important 
part in educational matters in this city is Wil- 
liam Joseph Fanning, born at Crescent. Sara- 
toga County, this stale, in 1850; educated at 
the Halfmoon Institute, where he took a classi- 
cal course, and then entered the law department 
of the University of the City of New York, 
where he obtained a degree of LL.B. He has 
been in active practice since 1880. As attorney 
for the Hotel Association, for twenty years, 
he has distinguished himself bv disentangling 
the intricacies of all statutes affecting inn- 
keepers. He was appointed City Magistrate 
by Mayor Strong but declined the office. He 
is a Director. Secretary and Treasurer of the 
Sinclair Realty Company, Secretary and 
Treasurer of the Great Northern Hotel Co., 



and interested in several other corporations. 
He is a member of the Metropolitan Museum 
of Art. His interest in educational Facilities 
for the children of his ward, the Eighteenth, in- 
duced him to serve as School Trustee for some 
time. Mr. Fanning belongs to the Manhattan, 
National Democratic and Catholic Clubs. He 
has always been a Democrat, but with the 
exception of the school trusteeship, has never 
sought or accepted public office. 

One evening in 1SS7, at a dinner party at 
General Stewart L. Woodford's on President 
street, Brooklyn. I met Edward M. Grout, a 
young lawyer who had studied in General 
Woodford's office and had been admitted to 
the bar two years before. Mr. Grout was 
born in this city in 1S(il and graduated at 
Colgate University in 1884. The same in- 
stitution conferred upon him the honorary 
degree of LL.D. in 190.'}. An evidence of his 
capacity as a politician is seen in the fact that 
ten years after his admission to the bar. he 
was Democratic candidate for Mayor of 
Brooklyn. After the consolidation, he was 
elected the first President of that Borough. 
1S97; his choice as Comptroller of the City 
of New ^ork. on a Fusion ticket, followed in 
1901 and. two years later. Tammany again 
elected him. He acted as Judge Advocate 
and Major of the 2nd Brigade. N. G. S. N. Y.. 
for ten years. He is a trustee of Colgate 
University, a member of the Delta Kappa 
Epsilon fraternity ami numerous city clubs. 
He is a successful metropolitan lawyer. 



250 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Ever since the Lexow State Senate Special 
Committee exposed the "graft" in the Police 
Department of New York, the name of 
Frank Moss, as assistant counsel of the com- 
mittee, has been a household word. Mr. 
Moss was horn at Cold Spring, N. Y., 1860; 
came to the metropolis when (i years old, and 
was educated at the College of the City of 
New York, although he did not graduate. 
lie studied law and was admitted to the bar 
in 1881. His work in the Lexow Investiga- 
tion, associated with Mr. (ioff, is very mem- 
orable. He was appointed President of the 
Police Board in 18!)? and two years later was 
named as chief counsel for the Mazet Com- 
mittee, another Legislative investigation of 
political corruption. Mr. Moss is president 
and chief counsel for the Society for the Pre- 
vention of Crime; Professor of Medical Juris- 
prudence in the New York Medical College 
and also in the Hospital for Women. He has 
served as Commissioner of Health; in 1!)1(), 
he was First Assistant District Attorney. 

John Randolph Dos Passos was born in 
the city of Philadelphia in 1N44, educated in 
the public schools and studied law under Wil- 
liam S. Price in connection with lectures at 
the University of Pennsylvania under Shars- 
wood. 

During the campaign in which Stonewall 
Jackson made his raid into that state, he served 
in the Pennsylvania Militia during the in- 
vasion of that commonwealth, and when the 
regiment was mustered out of service he began 
the study of his profession in Philadelphia, in 
which state he was admitted to practice in 
1866. In 186? he came to New York and 
soon became famous as a criminal lawyer. 
He appealed in two of the trials of Edward 
S. Stokes for the murder of James Fisk, and 
made one of the final arguments before the 
Court of Appeals, where a new trial was pro- 
cured for the convicted man, then under 
sentence of death. Thereafter, Mr. Dos Pas- 
sos turned his attention to corporation and 
financial law and became very prominent as 
an organizer of great corporations, among 
which may be mentioned the American Thread 
Company and the American Sugar Company. 
The fee he received for organizing the latter 
was the largest on record at that time. 



A proud achievement of Mr. Dos Passos was 
the alteration of the rules of the Court in re- 
gard to the admission of students to the bar. 
As Chairman of the Committee of Admission 
of the New York County Lawyers' Association. 
he succeeded after three years of labor in 
obtaining from the Court of Appeals an 
amendment of its rules relating to the admis- 
sion of Attorneys, so that from July 1. 11)11, 
the term of apprenticeship was extended from 
three to four years and other amendments 
were provided for making it quite impossible 
for those defectively equipped to become mem- 
bers of the bar. 

The South has furnished a capable United 
States District Attorney for this district who 
has risen to distinction as a lecturer on Law 
and Practice and Bankruptcy at Yale Univer- 
sity. I refer to Macgrane Coxe, born at 
Huntsville, Ala., in 1859, and graduated at 
Yale in his twentieth year, followed by a. 
course at the Columbia Law School. He has 
been in practice at New York since 1881 ; served 
as Assistant United States District Attorney 
1885-'89; was appointed Commissioner of the 
United States Circuit Court for the southern 
district of New York; United States Minister 
to Guatemala and Honduras ISO? and United 
States Referee in Bankruptcy, in which office 
he has served since 1<S!)(). He was a member 
of the Board of Visitors to the Naval Academy. 
Annapolis, 1908. In politics. Mr. Coxe is a 
Democrat and was a staunch supporter of the 
late Grover Cleveland. He is a member of 
several city and country chilis. His fondness 
for country life has induced him to spend 
much of the year at his farm, Southfields, 
( )range, N. Y. 

Gratz Nathan, a successful counsellor, has 
been in active practice in this city since his 
admission to the bar in 1864. He was born 
in New York in 1843 and was graduated from 
Columbia College in 1861, receiving the 
"Alumni Prize" at graduation. He studied 
law at the office of Foster &■ Thomson in this 
city. From 186? to 1872 he was Assistant 
Corporation Attorney, and rendered highly 
creditable service. His practice has been a 
general one and he has been engaged in manv 
important referee cases. He has always been 
a Democrat, but never an active participant in 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



251 




MACGRANE COX] 



Jl ' II N l: DOS 1' iSSi IS 



GKATZ NATHAN 



partisan work. Mr. Nathan is a member of 
the New York Law Institute, the New York 
Genealogical and Biographical Society, the 
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Columbia 
College Alumni Association and the St. Nich- 
olas Society. He is a vestryman of the Con- 
gregation Shearith Israel, a director of the 
Hebrew Relief Society and a member of the 
National Democratic < Mill > of the City of New 
York. 

A man who has distinguished himself in 
straight law and in clean politics is William 
Sulzer. representing for years the Tenth Dis- 
trict. New York, in the United States House 
of Representatives. Mr. Sulzer was born in 
Elizabeth, N. J., of German and Scotch-Irish 
parentage. His father was a farmer near 
Elizabeth and the boy was educated at the 
country schools near that town. He then 
attended lectures at the Columbia Law School, 
and read law in the office of Parish & Pendle- 
ton in New York City. His parents were 
strict Presbyterians and intended their son for 
the ministry; but he preferred the law and was 
duly admitted to the bar on attaining his 
majority, in 1884. He soon became recog- 
nized as a sound lawyer, and an eloquent 
public speaker. He took an active part in 
the first Cleveland campaign, and has been 
prominent in every campaign since. His 
success in law has been equalled by that in 
politics. He was sent to the New York 
Assembly and reelected for five years. He 



made a splendid record for usefulness to the 
State at Albany. No one ever questioned his 
honesty, his sincerity, or his capability. He 
served with distinction in the sessions of 1S!)I), 
1891. 1892, IS!).'} and 1894, 

He was a leader there of his party. an< 



Speaker in 1898 — one of the youngesl 



the 
on 



gress; he has been returned ever sinc< 
creasing majorities 



record. 

From the first, the newspapers were his 
friends. In 1894, the old Tenth District 
of this city sent him to the Fifty-fourth Con- 
by in- 
IIe is popular with the 
people. His course in the House has been 
one of hard work and sturdy independence. 
He was a staunch friend of the suffering 
Cubans: his sympathies are world-wide; his 
ideas are broad; and his work national. 

He introduced the bill declaring war against 
Spain; the joint resolution providing for a 
constitutional amendment under which United 
States Senators will be elected by direct votes 
of the people; he is the author of the law* 
establishing the Bureau of Corporations in the 
Department of Commerce and Labor; the bill 
increasing the pay of letter-carriers. He is 
the author of the resolution denouncing the 
Jewish outrages in Russia; of the Columbus 
Day bill; the law increasing the pensions of 
the soldiers and sailors of the Union; the law 
to raise the wreck of the "Maine"; of the 
copyright law; of the resolution for an income 
tax. He is the author of the bill to reestablish 
the Merchant Marine; for a general parcels 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




w 1 1 li \ \i siJ] / 1 , 1 : 



III \i;"i M Gt 'l !>!'( »;ii 



BENJAMIN ] 1 \ I lit HI 1 l> 



post; for national aid in the construction of 
good roads; of the Mil to create ;i Department 
t>l Labor with ;i Secretary having ;i seat in the 
Cabinet; of the bill to decrease the cosl of 
living by placing the necessaries of life on the 
free list; and of many other measures in the 
interest of the people of the country. His 
record ;it Albany and at Washington is a 
monument to his untiring zeal and inde- 
fatigable industry. 

He has been a delegate to every Democratic 
National Convention since 1896. I stood be- 
side him at the Chicago Convention of that 
year, when Whitney, as Chairman of the New 
lork delegation, declined to support Bryan, 
and counselled the New York delegation to 
l>olt. Mr. Sulzer refused to be led out of the 
convention hall and stood alone in his sun- 
port of the nominee. Sulzer prevented the 
New York delegation from bolting, and kept 
the Democrats of New York regular. He 
explained to me at the time that there were so 
many good things in the platform and thai 
Mr. Bryan was a man of so much honesty 
and energy and power for good that he de- 
cided to go along with him. This was an act 
of great courage, for the New Yorkers were 
bitterly hostile to Bryan. 

Mr. Sulzer has served on several very im- 
portant committees in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. Just so soon as his party gained 
control of the House Ms colleagues made him 
Chairman of the important and responsible 



Committee on Foreign Affairs, and he is 
making good. I le is widely read, is considered 
a tine international lawver, with ability along 
diplomatic lines. 

Mr. Sulzer last year was a candidate for the 
nomination for Governor on the Democratic 
ticket. Had he been selected he would have 
been elected by a landslide majority. I sin- 
cerely hope he will attain that high office, of 
which he is worthy. The people are with him. 
lie is a true mam an ideal representative, and 
one of the best known and most lovable char- 
acters in our country. 

Training in official life at Washington early 
in his career prepared Benjamin Lewis Fair- 
child for subsequently successful practice as 
a lawyer in this city. Mr. Fairchild was horn 
;il Sweden, Monroe Co., this state, 1N(»;>. but 
soon removed with his parents to the District 
of Columbia, where he attended the public 
schools. He completed a law course at Co- 
lumbia University in 1883 and since L885has 
practiced his profession in this city. Prior 
to that time he had served as a draughts- 
man in the United States Patent 
Office at Washington and, later, as 
clerk in the I . S. Treasury Department. 
Since coming to New York, he has largely in- 
terested himself in real estate at Pelham 
Heights. In politics lie is a Republican and 
represented the Sixteenth Congressional Dis- 
trict for one term. His clubs are the Union 
League, Lawyers and New York Athletic. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



253 



A New York Congressman who qualified 
for the place by ;i long and creditable career 
on the bench of this city is Henry M. Gold- 
fogle, born in the metropolis. May, 1856, and 
educated ;it the public schools. lie was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1S77 and practiced law 
for ten years, when he was elected justice 
of the 5th District Court of New York, re- 
elected 1893, became one of the judges of the 
Municipal Court of New York and retired 
from the bench, January, 1900, to resume 
practice of his profession. lie went to Con- 
gress for the first time in the same year and 
has been reelected ever since. Mr. Gold- 
fogle has been a delegate to every State Demo- 
cratic Convention during the past '27 years; 
was a delegate to the National Democratic 
Convention in 1S!)(!. He has served as Grand 
President, District 1. Independent Order of 
B'nai Brith; he is vice-president of the Temple 
Rodeph Sholom; an enthusiastic Mason and 
member of many fraternal societies. 



and graduated in 1903. After graduation he 
entered the offices of Wilmer & Canfield, and 

was admitted to the bar in 1905. The same 
year he became associated with Evarts, ( !hoate 
& Sherman, and continued his connection with 
thai linn until June 1. 1911, since which time 
he has practiced alone at No. 60 Wall Street. 
and has specialized to some extent in practice 
under the Chinese Exclusion Ad. In speak- 
ing of his association with Mr. Joseph II. 
Choate, he said: "I consider my connection 
of five years with Mr. Choate the greatest ex- 
perience of my life, because of the opportunity 
given me to know a man of such towering 
mentality, to observe the methods and char- 
acteristics of a master mind and to benefit by 
association with such a genius." 

Mr. Walmsley is a member of the Sigma 
Chi fraternity, hut has no club affiliations, 
domestic in his tastes and taking recreation 
from business cares in occasional automobile 
trips in nearby territory. 




HAKIHE li. WALMSLEY 



BARTOW S. \\ EEKS 



JOSEPH I'm i rs 



A\ hilo not necessary to a legal career, em- 
inent jurists agree that a medical training is a 
valuable adjunct and this added knowledge 
is part of the equipment of Hardie 15. Walms- 
ley. one of the successful younger members 
of the New York Bar. He was born in New 
Orleans. La.. June 11. IS??, and was educated 
at Tula ne University, New Orleans, and then 
studied medicine for three years at the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons at New York. 
He afterwards entered Columbia Law School 



He comes of noted ancestry, being descended 
on the paternal side from William Carroll, a 
brother of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and 
Robert Walmsley. who came from England 
with William Penn, on the ship "Welcome." 
On the maternal side he numbers Roger Wil- 
liams among his forebears. His father. Rob- 
ert M. Walmsley. is one of the leading citizens 
of New Orleans, being Chairman of the 
Hoard of Directors of the Canal-Louisiana 
Bank and Trust Company, Chairman of the 



254 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Board of Liquidation of the City Debt of New- 
Orleans. President of the New Orleans Clear- 
ing House, one of the Board of Administrators 
of Tulane University, director of the New- 
Orleans Railway and Light Company, and 
ex-President of the New Orleans Cotton Ex- 
change. 

Intending originally to engage in mercantile 
pursuits, Bartow S. Weeks graduated from 
the College of the City of New York in 1879 
and for two years was engaged in commercial 
life. His inclinations at this period were for 
a legal career and he entered the Columbia 
Law School, from which he graduated in 
1883 and was admitted to practice the same 
year. He was First Assistant District Attor- 
ney of New York County from 1X91 to 1897, 
and since that time has been very prominent 
in the profession. 

Mr. Weeks' lather was Colonel Henry 
Astor Weeks, of the 12th X. Y. Volunteers 
during the Civil War. and his middle name 
was given him because his birth, occurring 
April 25, 1861, followed closely the firing on 
Fort Sumter. He has been Judge Advocate 
General and Commander-in-Chief of the Sons 
of Veterans. President of the Amateur Athletic 
Union of the United States and of the New- 
York Athletic Club. In addition he belongs 
to the various Bar Associations, many leading 
clubs, the Loyal Legion, Sons of the Revolu- 
tion and the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. 

Another contribution of Vermont to the 
legal fraternity of this city is Joseph Potts, 
who came to New York in the fall of 1900, 
was admitted to practice in May. 1901. As 
an employee, he entered the law firm of Par- 
sons, Shepard & Ogden, composed of John 
E. Parsons, the late Edward M. Shepard and 
David B. Offden. When that firm dissolved 
in 190.S. Mr. Potts continued for a while with 
Mr. Parsons, after which he opened an office 
and began practice independently. Joseph 
Potts was born at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, 
September, 1873. He prepared for college at 
Phillips Exeter Academy; was graduated 
from Harvard University. A.B., 1897, and 
from Harvard Law School, 1900. He is a 
member of the Democratic party, but never 
has held any political office. 




AUGUST 1'. WAGENER 



A descendant of a notable German family, 
August P. Wagener comes naturally by those 
traits which have enabled him to overcome 
every obstacle and build up a large legal 
practice in New York City, to which he came 
in 1870 absolutely unknown and with no in- 
fluence to help him in his uphill fight. He, 
however, possessed indomitable will and de- 
termination and a thorough knowledge of the 
law and was soon making himself known and 
respected in the courts where he practiced. 
His success was assured from the start and 
he has now one of the largest practices of any 
individual lawyer in the city. 

Mr. Wagener was born in Philadelphia, 
Pa., and attended the public schools there. 
Determining to enter the legal profession he 
took up the study of law and after thorough 
preparation was admitted to practice by the 
New York Supreme Court in 1870. He was 
connected with the National Guard of New- 
York State for many years, first as Adjutant 
of the 11th Regiment and then as acting 
captain of one of the companies of the 55th 
Regiment. During the Civil War he served 
nine months with the 12th Regiment, United 
States Regulars. He is a Republican in politics 
and was once a candidate for Congress, running 
against ••Sunset" Cox and nearly beating him. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



255 




EDWARD J. GAVEGAN 



1U\ INC. LEHMAN 



\in mi; c. S VLMON 



ind legislation con- 



A fitting recognition of the admitted ability 
of Edward J. Gavegan, was his election to 
the Judgeship of the Supreme Court for the 
term expiring December 31, 19 L 23. 

Justice Gavegan was horn in Windsor, 
Conn. He was graduated from the Rockville, 
Conn., Academy in 188.5. B.A., from Yale in 
188!) and LL.B. from the Yale Law School 
in 1891, being awarded the Munson prize for 
graduating thesis. He was admitted to the 
bar the same year and at once entered into 
active practice, becoming counsel for the Mer- 
chants' and Manufacturers' Board of Trade. 
He has always been deeply interested in bal- 
lot reform, tariff reform 
cerning employers' liability 

Justice Gavegan is a member of the Bar 
Association of New York City, the Society of 
Medical Jurisprudence. Delta Kappa Epsilon 
fraternity. West End Association. Xavier 
Alumni Sociality. Society of St. Vincent de 
Paul. Knight of Columbus, and the Yale, 
Manhattan. Catholic and Oakland Golf Club. 

Among the popular members of the bench 
at present, I must not forget to mention [rving 
Lehman, born in this city in January, 1876; 
he completed academic and law courses at 
Columbia College in 1896 and 1898. In tin- 
law school, he won the Tappan prize in Con- 
stitutional Law. lie practiced for ten years 
as a member of Marshall. Guran & Williams; 
subsequently, the firm became Worcester. 
Williams & Lehman. lie was recently elected 



Justice of the Supreme Court on the Demo- 
cratic ticket for fourteen years, a greal 
tribute to so young a man. 

Among New York lawyers who have main- 
tained a place in the front rank of their pro- 
fession for many years is Arthur C. Salmon, 
born in Brooklyn in 1853; he attended the 
Adelphi Academy and then went to the 
Stamford Military Institute, where he was 
graduated first lieutenant. He spent two 
years in Europe, studying languages, after 
which he returned to New York to attend 
Columbia Law School, being articled as a 
clerk in the office of the late Homer A. Nel- 
son. ex-Secretary of State. Mr. Salmon was 
admitted to the bar in 1876, since which time 
he has been active in practice of his profes- 
sion. He was associated with Judge Jasper 
W. Gilbert as a commission to revise the 
Charter of the City of Brooklvn, — known as 
Chapter .583, Laws of 1888. He was Assist- 
ant Corporation Counsel of Brooklyn for six 
years and was appointed law member of the 
Board of Taxes and Assessments under the 
Consolidation Act, serving from 1898 to 1902. 
He is a very prominent member of the Royal 
Arcanum and a life member of Acanthus 
Lodge, ?1<), E. & A. M. and of Scottish Rite 
bodies. Mr. Salmon has always been an 
active Democrat, serving for twenty-six years 
on the County Committee of Kings County. 
In 1910 he was appointed Justice of Special 
Sessions by Mayor (iaynor for a term of eight 
years. 



256 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




FRANK KECK 



A. J. DITTENHOEFER 



HENRY E. HoWLAND 



Fifty-four years at the New York bar, and 
still in practice for the very love of it. is a 
wonderful record! What a multitude of in- 
teresting experiences are crowded into such 
a busy life! Ex-Judge A. J. Dittenhoefer 
has recently retired from practice in the courts, 
but he tells me he will continue to work as 
counsel and to feel the same active interest 
in public affairs he always has done. He 
was born at Charleston. S. (\. March, 1836; 
but his parents moved to New York when he 
was four years old, where he was given care- 
ful preparation for Columbia College and 
graduated at the head of his class. After ad- 
mission to the bar at 21, he was nominated 
by Republicans at the age of 22 as Justice of 
the City Court. lie was later appointed to 
that office by Gov. Fenton. lie was a Lin- 
coln elector in 1864, but he declined the posi- 
tion of United States District Judge for South 
Carolina, tendered by President Lincoln— 
although he was Southern born, he didn't 
believe in "carpet-bag" offices. It is impos- 
sible in a brief sketch even to mention the 
important cases or the high compliments that 
have been showered upon this brilliant lawyer. 

Relinquishing his law practice to take up 
arms for his country. .Major Frank Keck 
made an enviable record during the Spanish- 
American War. lie was born in New "V ork 
City, January ^N. 1853, and graduated B. S. 
from the College of the City of New York 
and LL.B. from Columbia University, com- 
mencing the practice of law in 1 s 7 ."> . 



In the Spanish-American War he was 
Major of the 3rd Battalion. 71st X. Y. 
Volunteers, and was named for the brevet 
of Lieutenant-Colonel for bravery in the battle 
of San Juan Hill. He also served in the 
Philippines, taking part in many battles and 
assisting in instituting civil government in 
several towns. For this service he was com- 
mended by the district commander. 

After the war Major Keck resumed the 
practice of law and has offices at No. L 2!) 
Broadway. He is Past Department Com- 
mander of the Spanish-American War Veter- 
ans. Recorder-in-chief of the Naval and Mili- 
tarv Order of the Spanish-American War. and 
Treasurer of the War Veterans' Association 
of the 71st Regiment. He belongs to the 
Masonic fraternity, being a member of Kane 
Lodge, No. 4>4, and is also a member of the 
Military Order of Carabao, the New York 
County Lawyers' Association. Military Service 
Institute. Military Order of Foreign Wars. 
Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and the Army 
and Navy and New York Athletic clubs. 

A philanthropic spirit is a strong com- 
ponent of the character of Henry Elias IIow- 
tand. Born at Walpole, X. II.. he was 
educated at Yale University and at the Har- 
vard Law School. Joining in the peaceful 
invasion of this city, he became associated 
with John Sherwood and remained his partner 
for twenty-one years. He later entered into 
partnership with Henry II. Anderson, who 
died in 1896. He is at present associated with 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



257 



Mr. George W. Murray and with his son. 
Charles P. How land. During Judge How- 
land's long and useful life, he has served as 
president of the Tax Department under ap- 
pointment of Mayor Cooper, and has twice been 
a candidate for judicial office, lie was ap- 
pointed Judge of the City Court by the pres- 
ent Governor, John A. I)i\. Judge How- 
land has been president of the University 
Club and of the New England Society and is 
a member of the Century, Yale and several 
leading clubs. 



As we have seen elsewhere, the printing 
office is an excellent schooling for men who 
expect to enter professions demanding a knowl- 
edge of their fellow mortals. A young lad, 
who had been born in Germany thirteen 
years before, became a copy boy in the office 
of the Brooklyn Union, in 1864. His name 
was Henry S. Rasquin, and, as a product of 
the public schools, he was quick, intelligent 
and ambitious. AVhen of legal age, he became 
Equity Clerk in the County Clerk's office in 
Kings County. While there, he studied law 




rAMES D BELL 



HENRY S. RASQUIN 



|i ilIN \YH AU.N 



In the memorable year of '61, James 1). 
Bell left what is now the University of 
the City of New York to respond to the call 
for fighting men. He joined the First Xew 
York Mounted Rifles and participated in 
some important engagements. He was 
wounded and taken prisoner. Returning, 
after five years, to Xew York, with the rank 
of first sergeant, he spent eight years at news- 
paper ami magazine work. He studied law 
and was admitted to the bar in 1880. Since 
that time. Colonel Bell has capably filled 
many important offices. He was the organ- 
izer, trustee and president for some years of 
the Brooklyn Bar Association. He has Keen 
particularly active in (I. A. R. affairs and is a 
member of a number of various important 
societies. Colonel Bell, at present, holds the 
office of Assistant Corporation Counsel in 
charge of the Borough of Brooklyn. 



and was admitted to the bar in 1X7(1. Al- 
though devoted to the profession of law. and 
to a partnership formed with Hugo Hirsh. he 
became active in the National Guard of New- 
York. He gave thirty years to this work, and 
for a quarter of a century commanded the 
Third Battery of Artillery. He retired from 
active service with the brevet rank of Major. 
He has always had a taste for politics and was 
Commissioner of Records in Kings County 
for three years. Major Rasquin is a Repub- 
lican and a member of several clubs. 

Enthusiasm for the national game doesn't 
have to be born in a man; he has only to attend 
a few well-played games and love of the sport 
develops as naturally as the measles. The 
greatest men in America become boys again 
in the seventh inning and we see. as well as 
hear, them gesticulating and shouting direc- 
tions to the umpire. John Whalen, is a Xew 



258 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



Yorker from 'way hack; so he turned this 
enthusiasm to account by becoming vice- 
president and treasurer of the New York 
Baseball Club. "Giants" they are. in their 
invincible skill, as well as in name! Mr. 
Whalen was horn on the Fourth of July. 1864, 
which, lie insists, accounts for his unequivocal 
patriotism. His father died when he was a 
child and his raising fell wholly upon his 
mother. Early. John deeided to become a 
lawyer. He started as errand hoy in the 
office of Charles O'Conor, rose to he a clerk 
and then entered the Law School of New York 
University. He was graduated LL.B., and 
later received honorary A.M., from St. John's 
College and LL.D. from St. Francis Xavier 
and Manhattan Colleges. He was admitted 
to the bar, 1878, and devoted himself especially 
to corporation and real estate practice. Poli- 
tics had much attraction for him. He was 
appointed Tax Commissioner in May. IS!).'!, 
and in 1898 was named Corporation Counsel 
by Mayor Van Wyck. While in that office 
he assisted in breaking ground for the first 
subway, lie is a member of many clubs, but 
is fonder of baseball than any other sport. 




WALTER II. BOND 



Among the younger members of the bar 
who hail from Massachusetts is Walter Hunt- 
torn at Waltham, in 1878, 



ington Bond 



educated at the Pratt Institute and graduated 
in law at the University of Michigan. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1901, served in the office 
of Judge James B. Dill for two years and 
then organized the law firm of Pond & Pah- 
son. He is distinctly a corporation lawyer 
and in the interests of large enterprises has 
traveled extensively throughout the Fluted 
Slates. Canada and Europe. In politics, he 
is a Republican; in religion, a Baptist. He is 
a member of the Order of Founders and 
Patriots of America, the Society of Colonial 
Wars, the Sons of the Revolution, New 
England Society. Metropolitan Museum of 
Art and several Xew York clubs. His chief 
recreation is mountain climbing and lie holds 
records for ascending Mts. Rainier, Hood, 
ami other peaks in the United States and 
Canada, as well as Mt. Plane and some less 
famous European peaks. In 1909 he estab- 
lished a new world's record in the ascension of 
Mt. Plane which is his climax in tall moun- 
tain climbing. His club affiliations would 
indicate intense patriotism and love of Amer- 
ican institutions. 

Another veteran of the Spanish War is 
Michael Gavin, 2nd, who saw seven years of 
active service with that smart corps. Squadron 
A. X. G. S. X. Y. Michael Gavin, 2nd, horn 
at Memphis. Tenn.. November, 1S7.S. was 
graduated from Yale, A. P.. '95, and LL.B., 
'!)7. After spending several months of travel 
abroad, he became associated with the firm 
of Reed, Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett, of 
which firm the late ex-Speaker Thomas Reed 
was the head. Since 1901, he has been in 
charge of the legal a Hairs of Moore & Schley. 
He is President and Director of the Howe 
Sound Company, Vice-President and Director 
of the Dally Peet Sugar Company, Secre- 
tary-Treasurer and Director of the Coal 
(reck Mining «.\: Manufacturing Company, 
and a director of the Preece Mining Com- 
pany, of the Chasmar-Winchell Press, 
Mercedes Mining Company, Poplar Creek 
Coal &: Iron Company, West Mountain Tram- 
way Company, and of the Lenoir City Com- 
pany. Mr. Gavin is a keen rider to hounds 
and a member of the Yale Club, and of the 
Phi Delta Phi (law) and Psi Upsilon frater- 
nities. 



THE BOOK <;/' NEW YORK 



259 



Back in 1!)01 the daily papers had an item 
about a youthful lawyer who was acting for 
a plaintiff in the trial of a case in one of the 
city courts, and during the progress of the 
trial was informed by his client that the de- 
fendant was politically affiliated with the 
Court. During the argument of the opposing 
counsel, the Court interrupted with the an- 
nouncement that he considered the position of 
the defendant untenable, and it seemed im- 
possible to entertain his contention, as it was 
at variance with the testimony. 'The youth- 
ful lawyer for the plaintiff, being momentarily 
confused, was under the impression that the 
Court was deciding against his client, lie 
jumped to his feet and interrupting with rapid 
language and piercing tones exclaimed : *'\ our 
Honor, the result financially of this case to the 
plaintiff or the defendant is of no consequence; 
the result is of no consequence as far as 1 am 
personally concerned, for I am nothing hut a 
poor, miserable, half-starved assistant in the 
office of the attorney for the plaintiff and 
amount to very little in my profession or on 
earth or in Heaven or in Hell; this ( 'ourf is of no 
consequence. Your Honor is of no consequence, 
hut the principle involved in this cast' repre- 
sents moral justice, and the law intends there 
shall he a remedy for every wrong — therefore, 
let this wrong he righted. Let this principle 
of justice triumph,. and let this plaintiff and 
this defendant and this Court including Your 
Honor and myself, go down to hell — hut let 
justice lie done, and I solemnly pledge Your 
Honor if justice is not done here and now, that 
somewhere in some court 1 shall obtain justice 
in this case or erase my name from the rolls 
of my profession and enter the profession of 
ditch diggers." The Court promptly fined 
the young attorney ten dollars — presumably for 
consigning himself to the lower regions with 
the others involved and then staled: 'Young 
man, hail you been listening carefully you 
would have understood that I was giving ex- 
pression to that which practically amounted 
to a decision in your favor." It afterward 
developed that not only was the Judge of an 
entirely different political party than the de- 
fendant, but that they were both unknown to 
each other. The young attorney of whom the 
above account was written was Marshall A. 



Harney, who to-day stands as one of the fore- 
most corporation attorneys not only of New 
York but many countries; in bis practice being 
often retained as associate counsel by attor- 
neys in Paris, London. Berlin and the large 
Canadian and South American cities and 
occupying the position of having incorporated, 




MARSHALL A. BARNEY 



personally and acting with associate counsel. 
perhaps more companies than any living man 
since the decease of James B. Dill. 

In recalling this incident Mr. Barney said: 
"Although the laugh was on me in that mat- 
ter, it was the turning point in my career. On 
that very day I was employed as permanent 
trial counsel by one of the largest law firms 
in New York at a salary of live times the 
amount I had been receiving the day pre- 



260 



THE BOOK of XFW YORK 



viously, but I had a woeful time getting $10. 
with which to pay that Hue The late Justice 
James B. Dill, author of "Dill on Corpora- 
tions," once said: "Barney has a corporate 
mentality not acquired alone from reading 
corporation law but in the field of a large 
experience that fairly incubates corporations 
by the score." Mr. Barney has never been 
ii'i politics, but on the contrary has confined 
his efforts entirely to his law practice. 

When 1 was managing editor of the World. 
1 had frequent occasion to consult its legal 
advisor. De Lancey Nicoll. He was then a 
young man, almost my own age, and 1 grew 
much attached to him. Although he was in 
the early thirties, he had already attained a 
prominent standing in his profession owing 
to success as an Assistant District Attorney 
of New York County in 
the prosecution of the 
boodle aldermen, placed 
in his hands by his chief. 
Randolph B. Martine. 
His first important case 
had been that of Ser- 
geant ( Irowley, whose trial 
and conviction caused 
much excitement at the 
time. The collapse of a 
building under construc- 
tion by one Buddensick, 
in which several people 
were killed, and the trial 
that followed, resulting 
in the conviction and im- 
prisonment of the crimi- 
ally negligent contrac- 
tor, was Mr. Nicoll's 
next success. The trial of Gen. Shaler, for 
irregularities in connection with armory sites, 
soon followed, and the culminating case was 
that of Ferdinand Ward, of Grant & Ward, 
by whose failure General Grant was im- 
poverished. Ward was the original "Napo- 
leon of Finance" who undertook to enrich 
himself by using other people's money; Mr. 
Nicoll secured a long term in prison for him. 
It was a brilliant page in the reformation of 
New York. Day after day. trains carried 
convicted boodlers and frenzied financiers to 
Sine Siiiir. Mr. Nicoll became a popular idol 




DE LANCEY NICOLL 



in the metropolis and his election to the office 
of District Attorney, in 1890, followed natur- 
ally a post he held with entire credit for three 
years. He then began practice for himself and 
clients came in troops to his offices. 

De Lancey Xicoll was born on Shelter 
Island in 1854, but his family home was in 
Flushing. lie prepared for college at St. 
Paul's School. Concord, X. IF, and then 
entered Princeton University, where he was 
graduated in 1874. Thence he went to Co- 
lumbia Law School, in the glorious lecture- 
room davs of Dr. Dwight. Getting his de- 
cree, he was taken into the office of Clarkson 
N. Potter, brother of Bishop Potter. He 



T. Da vies before 

o the bar. after 

for himself. He 

Lewis dv: Xicoll 

important cases 



served a year with Julian 
he applied for admission 
which he opened an office 
entered the firm of Eaton 
in 1882 and won several 
while so associated. 

Mr. Xicoll was always actively interested 
in politics. He was on the stump in presidential 
campaigns from 1876 to 1892. He had always 
been a Democrat but balked at Bryan's silver 
heresies and voted for McKinley in 1896 and 
1 !)()(). Mr. Xicoll is a member of many 
social organizations, including the Union, 
Metropolitan, Racquet, University, Manhat- 
tan, Rockaway Hunt, Tuxedo, Lawyers'. Ards- 
ley, Democratic and Country clubs, and the 
St. Nicholas Society. 

Samuel Hiker, Jr.. was born in Paris. May 
17. 1866, the son of the late John L. Hiker, 
who was a prominent business man in the last 
generation and the founder of the house of 
J. L. & D. S. Hiker, of which Samuel Hiker, 
Jr., is vice-president. 

The family has been prominent in New 
York since it was known as Xew Netherlands, 
the forebears being the Yon Rickers of Amster- 
dam, Holland, many of whom took part in 
the ereat contest that William of Nassau made 
for Dutch independence. 

The founder of the family in America was 
Abraham Rycker, who was registered in 1042 
as living on his own premises at "Heeren 
Grachf on the Old Dutch Road," which is 
now Broad and Beaver Streets. In Ki.54 the 
Director-General Peter Stuyvesant granted 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



26 




PETER T. BAUI.nW 



SAMUEL RIKER, Jr. 



Ri IBERT H. HIBBAUD 



Abraham Rycker one-fourth of the township 
of Newtown on Long Island. Much of the 
land has been sold, but the old Riker Home- 
stead, comprising 130 acres, and the old bury- 
ing ground is still held bv the family. 

Samuel Riker. great-grandson of Abraham 
Rycker. was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
War and afterwards became a member of the 
State Assembly and served two terms in 
Congress. The youngest of his nine children 
was John Lawrence Riker, the grandfather 
of Samuel Riker. Jr., a leading lawyer for 
over fifty years. 

Samuel Riker. Jr., was educated in Ever- 
son's Collegiate School. New York City, and 
Columbia Law School, graduating in ISScS 
with the degree of LL.B. He then entered 
the office of his uncle, Samuel Riker. as a 
student and was admitted to the bar in 1890. 

When Samuel Riker. Sr.. retired from prac- 
tice in 1893, Mr. Riker formed a partnership 
with Edward R. DeGrove, which continued 
until January. 1910. Since that time he has 
been alone, having a general practice, con- 
sisting of real estate, estate and corporation law. 

Mr. Riker is a director in a number of cor- 
porations, lie is a member of the Delta Phi 
Fraternity, the Automobile Club of America, 
Down Town Association. Sons of the Revolu- 
tion. St. Nicholas Society and the Columbia, 
University. City. Manhattan. Racquet and 
Tennis. Rumson Country and Union clubs. 

For many years Peter T. Barlow, has been 
one of the best-known judges on the bench of 



the City Courts. Judge Barlow, the son of 
Samuel L. M. Barlow, of the law firm of 
Shipman, Barlow, Larocque & Choate, was 
born in New York City, June 21, is.)?, and 
after thorough preparation entered Harvard 
University, from which he graduated in 1ST!) 
with the degree of A.B. Deciding to follow 
his father's profession, he entered the Colum- 
bia Law School and in 1SS1 was graduated 
LL.B. After admission to the Bar he com- 
menced a general practice in which he con- 
tinued until his appointment as a city magis- 
trate, his term expiring May 1st. 191.'?. Judge 
Barlow is a member of the Society of Colonial 
Wars. He is a member of the Union, Uni- 
versity, Harvard. Down Town and American 
Yacht clubs. 

Those who personally know Robert II. Hib- 
bard are not surprised that he has been success- 
ful as a lawyer. He served on the police 
force as patrolman and detective and was 
noted for his activity and integrity. When 
he resigned to take up the practice of law he 
brought the same fidelity and honesty of pur- 
pose to his new profession with the result that 
he immediately secured a large clientele. 

Mr. Ilibbard was born in Taconia. Wash- 
ington. May .SO. 1ST.'), the son of Major George 
B. Hibbard, who was on the stall' of General 
George II. Thomas, during the Civil Wir. 
He was brought to New York City when a 
child and educated at the Peekskill Military 
Academy after which he became affected with 
"Wanderlust" and was in succession rodman 



262 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 




SAMCICL T. MAI U)i iX 



JOHN FORD 



THOMAS C. T. CHAIN 



and transitman in survey work, brakeman 
and dock builder, not settling down until he 
was appointed to the police force in 1895. 
For seven years he served as patrolman, ward- 
man, and eventually Central Office detective 
on the stall's of Inspectors Brooks and Walsh. 
He made an enviable record in each position 
despite the fact that every moment was used 
in preparing for a bar examination and in 
studies at the New York University Law 
School and at the New York Law School. 
From the first institution he graduated LL.B. 
in 1902 and LL.M. from the latter one year 
later. He was admitted to the bar in 1903 
and at once started practice at No. L 2 L 20 Broad- 
way where he lias been located ever since, 
conducting a general practice, representing 
large contracting companies and acting as 
counsel in many cases involving the construc- 
tion of railroads. He served as Special 
Deputy Attorney General in l!)<):>-4, is a 
member of the local School Hoard No. 14, 
and was recently appointed by Governor Dix 
a member of the Hoard of Managers of the 
Central [slip State Hospital. He is active 
in politics and is a member of the general 
committee, 15th Assembly District, Tam- 
many Hall. He also belongs to the West Side 
and Amsterdam Democratic Clubs, the Col- 
umbia Yacht ( Hub and the Masonic fraternity. 
An anient sportsman and an able jurist is 
John Ford. Justice of the Supreme Court of 
Xew York State, who was born in Knowles- 



ville, X. Y., 1862. In 1S!)0 he was graduated 
from Cornell with the degree of A.B. and then 
removed to New York City. Embarking in 
the profession of journalism, in 1890, Mr. 
Ford studied law and, always taking an active 
interest in municipal ami state politics, he 
was chosen State Senator in 1896 and served 
until 1900. He was elected Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the State in 1906 on the 
Democratic and Independent tickets. Justice 
Ford is a Phi Beta Kappa, and belongs to 
several fraternal organizations, beside the Cor- 
nell Lhiiversity, Canadian Camp, Campfire 
and Dalcassion clubs. 

That famous trans-Atlantic liner, the " May- 
flower," carried a distinguished passenger list. 
Probably much of the distinction is due to the 
fact that many descendants of that ship's com- 
pany have acquired fame and preeminence 
among their fellows. Three passengers on 
that frail hark were ancestors of Thomas C. 
T. Crain. Judge Crain, however, is a real 
Xew Yorker, horn in this city in 1860. He 
was educated in Germany, Italy and England. 
Returning to his native land, he studied law 
and became associated with the firm of Flatt & 
How ers. After practicing in various partner- 
ships and independently, Judge Crain traveled 
in Europe for several years and became 
United States Vice- and Deputy-Consul at 
Milan. He has held various important muni- 
cipal and state positions, being for a time 
Deputy Attorney-General for this state. He 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



2(i3 



was elected Judge of the Court of General 
Sessions in 1906, which office he still holds. 
The reforms instituted and carried out by 
Collector Loeh in the New York Customs 
Service have been rendered possible by the 
efficient aids he has gathered 'round him. 
One of these coadjutors of reform is Francis 
W. Bird, a young lawyer barely thirty years 
of age, who holds the important post of 
Appraiser. Since accepting office early in 



United States District Attorney under Henry 
L. Stimson, now Secretary of War in Presi- 
dent Tal'I's Cabinet. In December of that 
year. Mr. Bird was transferred as United 
States District Attorney at New Orleans, where 
he conducted an investigation into alleged 
frauds in the importation of sugar. As a 
result of his report to the Attorney General, 
he came under the favorable notice of 
President Taft and Lloyd C. Griscom, the 




FRANCIS W. I'.IIMi 



CIl MILES H. STOA I R 



1911, he has been the resolute foe of dishonest 
importers who have been systematically under- 
valuing their goods brought to this port. Mr. 
Bird was born in East Walpole, Mass., July. 
1881. His father is a large New England 
manufacturer. Young Bird attended the Hill 
School at Pottstown, Pa., and later entered 
Harvard University, from which he was grad- 
uated in 1!)()4 and subsequently spent two 
years at the Harvard Law School. He was 
soon appointed Assistant United States Dis- 
trict Attorney for the southern district of Ne"W 
York. In 1901, he became a special Assistant 



Republican leader of this State, asked his 
appointment as Appraiser of this Port. 

Since the rise to professional supremacy of 
the corporation lawyer, many young men have 
directed their talents in that direction. Wil- 
liam Wilson Miller was born in Washington, 
1). C 1870. Educated at Princeton University, 
he subsequently took a course at the National 
University, Washington. He was admitted 
to practice in 1891 and soon came to New 
York. His father was William .1. Miller, a 
leader of the District bar, having a large prac- 
tice before the Supreme Court of the United 



264 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




W'll.I.IAM \V MILI.KK 



Hli',11 GORDl iN MILLER 



SAMUEL I' McCONNELL 



States. In New York, Mr. Miller became 
a clerk in the office of Hornblower, Byrne & 
Taylor, and became a member of the firm in 
18!)4. lie is now the second member of the 
firm of Hornblower, Miller & Potter, of which 
firm William B. Hornblower is the senior 
member. lie has been associated in an ad- 
visory or executive capacity with innumerable 
railroads, banks, trust companies and manu- 
facturing corporations. I recall a very good 
story about Mr. Miller, told in connection 
with his Hist employment by Mr. Hornblower. 
He managed to see the distinguished lawyer, 
but was assured that no vacancy existed. 
Young Miller claimed that it' he were allowed 
to remain, lie would find something to do. 
This amused Hornblower, who said. '"Well, 
young man. if you think there is anything in 
this office not thoroughly looked after, you 
may make an effort to discover it." When 
asked when he would be ready to begin, he 
replied: "I will remain now; I don't want to 
take any risk of not getting in. if once I get 
out." He was shown a desk and place to 
hang his hat. Evidently, the young man 
found something to do. for. three years later, 
he was taken into the firm. He is a member 
of most of the prominent clubs of New York 
as well as the Metropolitan of Washington. 
Virginia is not only "the Mother of Presi- 
dents" but of lawyers. Among the young and 
active members of the legal profession in this 
city is Hugh Gordon Miller, who. at the age 



of .'5(>. has taken high rank as a prosecuting 
lawyer. He was born March. 1875, at Nor- 
folk, his ancestors, who came to America 150 
years ago, being members of the Gordon chin 
of Scotland. After serving as deputy clerk of 
the Norfolk Corporation Court until 189(5, he 
was admitted to the bar and practiced in the 
state and federal courts of Virginia until 1904, 

two years of which time he acted as Assistant 
United States Attorney. President Roosevelt 
made him a special assistant to the Attorney- 
General of the Tinted States in 1908 and gave 
him charge of the litigation growing out of 
the Passaic River pollution suits. Governor 
Higgins of Xew York named him as a Com- 
missioner from this state to the Jamestown 
Exposition. Mr. Miller is general counsel for 
the Xew York Civil Service Association and a 
director of the West Indian Development Co. 
He served as secretary of the Robert Fulton 
Monument Association and is a member of 
several societies. He is a Republican and took 
the stump for McKinley during the Bryan 
campaign of li)()(). 

Another Western man who responded to 
"the call of the city" and came from Illinois, 
where he was born at Springfield in 1850, is 
Samuel Parsons McConnell. distinguished 
both as a lawyer and as a jurist, as well 
as having been first vice-president and 
then president of the George A. Fuller Com- 
pany, one of the largest building contracting 
corporations in the world. He took a degree 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



2(>5 



at Lombard College, Galesburg, in 1871; was 
admitted to the Bar the following year and 
began practicing in Chicago. lie became a 
judge of the Circuit Court in 1SS!) and while 
holding that position presided in the Cronm 
murder trial and in many other criminal and 
civil cases. Judge McConnell is a man of 
distinct personality and showed his ability to 
rise above popular clamor while in Chicago 
by circulating a petition, directed to Governor 
Oglesby of Illinois, asking commutation of 
death sentences against the anarchists Fielding 
and Schwab to life imprisonment. His oppo- 
sition to the execution of these men was based 
solely upon legal grounds, he believing the 
crimes to be strictly political. Mr. McConnell 
personally went to Springfield with the peti- 
tion and the Governor did commute the sen- 
tences of Fielding and Schwab, and later they 
were pardoned by Governor Altgeld. At- 
though bitterly denounced at the time. Mr. 
McConnell was elected by a large majority to 
the Judgeship previously mentioned less than 
two years after. He regards the preparation 
of this petition the best thing he ever did, con- 
sidered strictly from a legal view-point. 

One of the men with whom I became ac- 
quainted on his arrival in New York in 1SS1 
was (diaries Henry Beckett, until recently Sur- 
rogate of the County of New York, born in Wil- 
liamstown.Yt., in 1N.>!>. After a .common school 
education he entered Barre Academy and was 
graduated at Dartmouth College (1881), win- 
ning all Hist prizes in the senior class. He 
entered Columbia Law School, finished in 

1883 and was admitted 
to the bar. During 
the following year he 
was appointed to the 
probate clerkship by 
Surrogate Rollins and 
acquired information 
subsequently useful to 
him. He remained for 
a year under Surro- 
gate Ransom, Rollins' 
successor, resigning to 
form the firm of Boor- 
iiem, Hamilton c!v Beck- 
ett. Governor Roose- 
charles h. beckett velt, in INN!), appointed 




him a trustee of the Elmira Reformatory, and. 
with his associates, Mr. Beckett accomplished 
important reforms, lie continued mi the 
Elmira Hoard until 1903, declining a reap- 
pointment by Governor Odell. 'To utilize 
experience in the Surrogate's office, he acted 
as counsel in contested will eases. In this 
line he is recognized as an expert and during 
the years that followed his appointment as 
Surrogate he took part in the trial of more 
contested will eases than any lawyer at the 
New ^ ork liar. He is now one of the trustees 
of the New York Life Insurance Company 
and a member of the University Club. City 
('lull. Republican Club, the Bar Association, 
a I). K. F. man, and a Republican. 

In forsaking a possible brilliant military 
career for professional life, William N. Dvk- 
man has shown his versatility by becoming one 
of Brooklyn's most distinguished lawyers. 

Mr. Dykman was appointed to West Point 
and graduated in 1875, later being appointed 
lieutenant. He had given evidence of his 
fitness for military life, lint the call of civic 
pursuits was strong and he resigned to take 
up the study of law. After graduation and 
admission to the New York Bar, he soon be- 
came prominent in the legal profession and 
on January 7, 1898, was appointed a member 
of the Civil Service Commission of New York 
City ami was reappointed January 1, 1902. 

Mr. Dykman is now a member of the law 
firm of Dykman. Oeland & Kuhn and is a 
director in many Kings County corporations. 
He is president of the Riding and Driving 
Club and a member of the University, Brook- 
lyn, Hamilton. Montauk, Remsen County, 
and Frontenae ^ aeht clubs. 

One of the best friends 1 made when chosen 
Chairman of the House Committee of the 
D. K. F. Club, in INN?, was Charles F. Matli- 
ewson, an active young lawyer and member 
of the fraternity. He was an interesting and 
charming personality. Mr. Mathewson was 
born at Barton, Vt., May. 1860; took a degree 
from Dartmouth in 1882, valedictorian of his 
class, receiving prizes for proficiency in Greek, 
Latin, mathematics and oratory and being at 
the same time active in athletics and a mem- 
ber of the 'Varsity base-hall and foot-ball 
teams; a law course was finished at Columbia 



266 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



in 1885, his admission to the bar soon fol- 
lowing. Since that day he has been active 
in his profession- especially prominent as a 
corporation attorney. He was the first presi- 
dent of the Dartmouth Club, when organized 
in this city, and was president of the Metropoli- 
tan Association of the Amateur Athletic Union. 

As general counsel for the Consolidated Gas 
Company in the celebrated "80-cent gas" 
fight he prevailed before the Master and he- 
fore the Circuit Court of the United States; 
and while the Supreme Court reversed the 
judgment without prejudice to a further pro- 
ceeding by that company, it sustained and 
established practically all the important prop- 
ositions advanced by the Gas Company, 
including its right to a return of at least six 
per cent, on its property, the inclusion of such 
property at its "present value" as against 
what it originally cost, and likewise the in- 
clusion in such property of its "franchises" 
which the State sought to exclude, and it 

is undersl 1 that the Gas Company is not 

shedding many tears over the whole result. 

The United States Customs Service is 
drawing into it men of experience and educa- 
tion in the lines of their work. One of the 
present incumbents of the office of United 
States General Appraiser (a life appointment), 
Charles P. McClelland, was horn in Scotland 
in 1S54. His parents brought him here early. 
He received a public school education and 
was graduated from New York I niversity 
Law School in 1882. He had begun life as a 
clerk in a shop, studying law at nights. Poli- 
tics had much attrac- 
tion for him. In 1884, 
he was elected a mem- 
ber of Assembly for the 
First District of West- 
chester county, and was 
reelected in '85. Pres- 
ident Cleveland then 
appointed him Special 
Deputy Collector of 
Customs, Port of New 
York. He held that po- 
sition until 1890, when 
he resumed the practice 
of law. A year later 
charles p. Mccielland he was again sent to 




the Assembly and became Chairman of the 
Ways and Means Committee and leader of his 
party therein. His next step, in 1892, was to the 
State Senate, where lie served two years. 
Again in 1902 he became the nominee of his 
party for Senator from the Westchester County 
district and was elected. After he had served 
one year of his term as Senator. President 
Roosevelt tendered him an appointment as 
United States Genera] Appraiser and the 
tender was accepted, Mi-. McClelland resign- 
ing from the Senate. There are nine General 
Appraisers, having jurisdiction of all matters 
arising in any part of the U. S., Hawaii and 
Porto Rico. The office is non-partisan. There 
may be no more than five of any one party. 
He is a member of the St. Andrews Society 
and is a director of several charitable insti- 
tutions. 

The Board of United States General Ap- 
praisers was organized in 1890 and its mem- 
bers constitute a Judicial Tribunal of great 
value to the customs service of the nation. 
The President of this Board, since July, 1910, 
is Henderson Middleton Somerville, born in 
Virginia in 1837, and graduated from the 
University of Alabama. He has received the 
honorary degree of LL.D. from Georgetown 
College. Ky., the Southwestern University 
(Tenn.). and from his alma muter. lie also 
took a degree at Cumberland Law School. 
He then became editor of the Memphis Ap- 
peal. He founded the Law School of the 
University of Alabama in 1S7:>. where he 
was a lecturer on and professor of constitu- 
tional, statutory ami common law until 
1890, during ten years of which time he was 
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of 
Alabama, resigning, July, 1890, to assume 
the duties of his present Federal office in this 
city. 

He has been President of the New York 
Medico-Legal Society; was Trustee of the 
Alabama Insane Hospital for 1? years; is a 
Trustee of the Peabody Educational Fund, 
President of the Alabama Society of New 
York, and a member of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the New York Southern Society. 
T should have mentioned that while in college 
he became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa 
and Alpha Delta Phi fraternities. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



"2<>1 




HENDERSON M. SoMERVILLE 



WILLIAM J GIBSON 



WILLI \\l C. BEECHEB 



Justice Somerville is the author of the Ala- 
bama statutes regulating the trials of the 
criminal insane; also of the opinion of the 
Alabama Supreme Court in the celebrated 

case of Parsons vs. The State, reported in the 
81st vol. Ala. Reports, — said by the Chicago 
Legal Journal to be the only judicial deliver- 
ance ever published that completely harmon- 
ized the views of medical and legal, professions 
on the subject of the responsibility of the crim- 
inal insane, and the proper tests of insanity 
in criminal cases. 

Among the Pennsylvanians who have at- 
tained prominence in legal practice in New 
York City, is William J. Gibson. 

Mr. Gibson was born at Gibsonville, Ches- 
ter County. Pa., November 8, 1842, and was 
educated at New London Academy and West- 
minster College. He studied law in West- 
chester. Pa., and was admitted to the bar there 
in 1865; to that of Louisiana the same year 
and to the Supreme Court of New York in 
1866. 

He was counsel for the United States 
Treasury Department before the Boards of 
United States General Appraisers from 1895 
to 1!)01 and since that time has practiced 
alone at No. 32 Liberty Street. 



Mr. Gibson was a member of tl 



1 



Cllll- 



sylvania Military Academy Battery, enlisting 
in 1863 for three months' service, and going 
to Chambersburg, Pa., at the time Lee crossed 
the Potomac. lie is a member of the New 



York County Lawyers' Association, the Law 
Institute and the Reform and New York 
Athletic clubs. 

A man I remember as an efficient Assistant 
District Attorney of New York, before the 
consolidation, is William C. Beeeher, born in 
Brooklyn. 1N1!>. After preliminary studies at 
Rand Hill School, Northampton, Mass., he 
was graduated from Yale in 1872, and then 
took a course at Columbia Law School. Dur- 
ing the progress of his studies, he had hesitated 
between surgery and law. but the latter won 
out. Forming a partnership with Mr. Lewis, 
which lasted nine years, in 1895 the firm of 
Beeeher & Scoville was organized and con- 
tinued for three years. Since then Mr. 
Beeeher has practiced independently. Much 
is expected of a man who at Yale attains 
Delta Kappa Epsilon and Scroll and Key, 
but Beeeher fully comes up to the standard. 
He is a member of several prominent clubs, 
namely, Hamilton. Crescent. Rembrandt, Dy- 
ker Meadow, Hardware, Campfire of America. 
Campfire of Canada and Nassau Country. 

Brevet-Brigadier Genera] Anson G. Mc( look 
was born at Steubenville, Ohio. October 10, 
IS.'!.'), lie was educated in the public schools 
of New Lisbon, Ohio, and in 1854 crossed the 
plains to California, where he spent several 
years, when he returned shortly before the 
war. and was engaged in the study of law at 
Steubenville. At the outbreak of the Civil 
War. he promptly raised a company of volun- 



■JiiS 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



ccis. and was elected Captain. This was the 
first company to enter the volunteer service 
from Eastern Ohio. He was assigned to 
the Second Ohio regiment, and took part in 
the first battle of Bull Run. July ^21. 1861. 
Upon the reorganization of the troops for three 
years, he was appointed Major of the 2nd 
Ohio. August (». 1861, and rose by death and 
resignation of his seniors to the rank of ( 'olonel. 
December 31, 1862. At the battle of Peach 
Tree ("reek, near Atlanta. July 20, 1864, he 
commanded a brigade, lie was in action in 
many of the principal battles of the West, 
including those of Perryville, Stone River. 
Lookout Mountain. Missionary Ridge, Resaca. 
etc.. serving in the Army of the Cumberland. 
After the muster out of the L 2nd Ohio, at the 
dose of its three years' service. October 1(1. 
1S(i4. he was appointed Colonel of the One 
Hundred and Ninety-fourth Ohio, in March. 
1865, and was ordered to Virginia, where he 
was assigned to command a brigade. He 
was brevetted a Brigadier General, March 1:5. 
1865. He returned to Steubenville, whence, 
after several years' residence, lie removed to 
New York city in IS?.'?, his present residence. 
He served six years in Congress from the 
Eighth New York district, in the Forty-fifth, 
Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses. He 
was Secretary of the United States Senate 
from December IS. 1SS.'?. to August 7. IS!).'?, 
and Chamberlain of the City of New York 
From August 1. 1895, to January 1. 1898. 

The Ohio McCooks acquired a reputation 
during the Civil War as the "Fighting Mc- 
Cooks." In current notices they were spoken 
of as one family, but really were two families, 
the sons of Major Daniel McCook and of Dr. 
John McCook. Of the former family there 
were engaged in military service the father. 
Major Daniel McCook. Surgeon Latimer A. 
Mc< look, ( reneral ( reorge AY. Mc( !ook, Major- 
General Robert L. McCook, General Daniel 
McCook, Jr., Major-General Edwin Stanton 
McCook. Private Charles Morris McCook 
and Colonel John J. McCook. Of the latter 
family were engaged in the service Major- 
General Edward M. McCook. General Anson 
G. McCook, Chaplain Henry C. McCook, 
Commander Roderick S. McCook. U. S. N., 
and Lieutenant John J. McCook, five in all. 



This makes a total of fifteen, every son of both 
families all commissioned officers except 
Charles, killed in the first battle of Pull Run. 
The two families have been designated as the 
'Tribe of Dan" and '"Tribe of John." 

William Matheus Sullivan was born in New 
York City. June 26, 1880. He is a descend- 
ant of General John Sullivan of Revolutionary 
fame. He received his academic education 
at the Polytechnic Institute. Brooklyn, and 
graduated with scholarship honors. He then 
entered the New York University and grad- 
uated from this college and its law school in 
1901, being admitted to the New York Bar 
the same year. Mr. Sullivan's first case of 
prominence was the Macnaughtan Federal 
indictment matter, in which case General 

Benjamin F. Tracy was 
chief counsel and pre- 
dicted a prominent ca- 
reer for young Sullivan. 
The celebrated Ban- 
croft robbery case in 
1!)11 and Mr. Sulli- 
van's active efforts in 
bringing' the thieves to 
justice brought Mr. 
Sulliva n prominently 
into public notice. 
Aaron Bancroft, an 
aged banker of S4 
years and a member 
of the firm of George 
Bancroft t\: Com- 
pany, was robbed of $100.00(1 of negotiable 
securities while carrying same to the safe 
deposit vault of the firm. No clew of the 
thieves could be found, although the police 
and Pinkerton Detective Agency were search- 
ing the entire country. In response to a tele- 
phone request from the thieves, whether Mr. 
Sullivan would meet them alone and pay a 
certain reward for the securities, the young 
lawyer not only met them, but regained the 
stolen securities and delivered the thieves to 
the police. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the 
University and Delta Chi clubs and of the 
Delta Chi Fraternity. 

Among the corporation lawyers of the 
metropolis must be included James Armstrong, 
who, although born at Candor, N. Y.. in 




WILLIAM M. SCLLIVAN 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



269 



1S,'54. and admitted to the bar in 1858, passed 
the first fifteen years of his legal practice in 
Davenport, la. During that period of his 
life he acted as Collector of Internal Revenue 
under Presidents Johnson and Grant; was 
one of the incorporators of the First National 
Hank of Davenport, the first institution to 
begin business under the Banking Act of 
1863. Air. Armstrong came to New York in 
1873 to take charge of the law and collection 
business of II. H. ClaHin & ( '<>.. then the great- 
est mercantile house in this country. lie has 
been attorney for the Philadelphia & Reading 



taking the degrees of A.B., A.M. [and LL.B. 

I pon graduation, he entered the office of S. H. 
Brownell, later starting in independent prac- 
tice. The case of American Law Hook Co. 
vs. Edward Thompson Co., handled by Mr. 
Leubuscher is very noteworthy because of the 
establishment of an important point in the law 
of injunctions. He was a close friend of the 
late Henry George, having written a history 
of his campaign for mayor in 1886 of which 
'20.0(10 copies were sold. In the recent con- 
gressional elections, he managed most success- 
fully the campaign of his son. Henry George, 




JAMES ARMSTRONG 



FREDERIC C. LEUBUSCHER 



SAMUEL UNTERMYER 



railway since 189-2. also serving as counsel 
in the State of New York for the Philadelphia 
&: Reading Coal & Iron Co. lie is senior 
member of Armstrong, Brown & Boland. Ib- 
is president of the Mortgage Holding Co. and 
director in other similar corporations. He 
was graduated at Hobart College in 1856, 
where he achieved Phi Beta Kappa, and was 
a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. 

We should feel indebted to one who is re- 
sponsible for bringing forward a magistrate of 
the calibre of Mayor Gaynor. As chairman 
of the Municipal Democracy. Frederic 
Leubuscher was responsible for the nomi- 
nation of the present mayor by that body 
before his name was ultimately selected 
by the regular organization. Frederic Cyrus 
Leubuscher was born in this city in I860, 
educated at the City College and at Columbia. 



Jr. Mr. Leubuscher is a member of the City 
and Reform clubs, a Democrat (in national 
politics): and a Free Trader as becomes an 
upholder of the Single Tax principle, being 
President of the Manhattan Single Tax Club. 

Space proscribes anything like an adequate 

enumeration of the notable achievements of 
Samuel Untermyer in his chosen profession, 
law. Born in Lynchburg, Ya.. in 1858, edu- 
cated in the New York public schools and in 
the College of the City of New York. Mr. 
Untermyer took his degree of LL.B. from 
Columbia Law School. It is illustrative of his 
capacity and brilliancy that his successful 
career began practically upon his embarkation 
in a profession that frequently imposes years 
of weary waiting for recognition. Before he 
was -24 years of age, Samuel Untermyer rep- 
resented almost all the brewing interests of the 



270 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



City of New York and was counsel for the 
State and American Brewers' Associations. 
Since that time lie has been attorney in many 
world-famous cases. His duties as counsel 
for several railroads and other large corpora- 
tions have not precluded him from taking 
active interest in the correction of lax methods 
of several of New York's largest corporations. 
He is a member of the Lotos Club. 

To have served four years as Public Admin- 
istrator of intestate affairs in the City of New 
York is a liberal education. One occupying 
such a responsible public office has impressed 
upon him the disinclination of average men 
to recognize the inevitable end of all human 



president of the National Guard Association 
and a member of many clubs and societies. 
As president of the alumni association of bis 
alma mater, he organized the movement that 
resulted in legislation by which the City Col- 
lege was established on Convent Heights. 
Greatly to his credit.be it said, be is a friend 
of the most friendless, hopeless specimens of 
humanity, the insane; he is the originator of 
laws establishing visitorial powers over all 
asylums, public and private, of the State Com- 
missioner in Lunacy. When Wendell Phil- 
lips said, in a memorable address before a 
Boston audience. "Nobody ever thinks of the 
insane or the Indian," he could not have 
known Mr. Lvdecker. 




CH.U'.l.KS E LVDECKEK 



ADRIAN H. I.AKKIN 



ASHTI IN PARKER 



creatures. There are a thousand dramas, 
novels and short stories tucked away in the 
pigeon-holes of the Public Administrator of 
the City of New York. A predecessor of 
William AT. Hoes, the present incumbent, was 
Charles E. Lvdecker. one of the best-informed 
authorities on wills in this country. Mr. 
Lydecker is a New Yorker, born in 1851. 
He availed himself of the splendid educational 
advantages offered by the New York Free 
Academy, as it was then called. Mr. Lydecker 
entered Columbia Law School and was grad- 
uated in 1873. Almost as soon as he began 
the practice of his profession, he was engaged 
in important will litigations, including those 
of the Leland Stanford estate, California; of 
Eugene Cruger, New York, and of Howard 
Paul, London. Mr. Lydecker was Major of 
the Seventh Regiment, N. G. N Y.; ex- 



Ashton Parker was born in Lachine, near 
Montreal, Quebec. He is the son of Robert 
A. Parker, vice-president of the Market and 
Fulton National Bank. Practically the entire 
life of Ashton Parker has been spent in the 
United States. He obtained his degree of 
LLP. from Columbia University and began 
practice in New York in 1904; he formed 
the firm of Parker & Ernst. He has been 
active in politics for a number of years as 
secretary of the West Side Democratic ( lub and 
his election to the Assembly from the Fifteenth 
District is a particularly creditable and note- 
worthy achievement. It was only by a de- 
termined and plucky fight that this district 
could be won over to the 1 )emocracy, for it had 
normally a Republican majority of over .'{(((Ml. 
He was the first Democrat elected there in 
fifteen vears. He also had the endorsement 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



271 




EDWARD M Mi MM', \N 



MATTHEW P. BREEN 



JOHN B. C. TAl'l'AN 



of the Independence League in the cam- 
paign. 

The firm name of .Inline, Larkin & Rath- 
hone is constantly familiar in connection with 
important corporation eases that merit and 
occupy a quantity of newspaper space. Adrian 
H. Larkin is a graduate of Princeton, where 
he obtained his degree in 1887. He has been 
notably successful in the practice of law in 
this city as a member of the above firm. His 
abilities are logically demonstrated by an 
enumeration of the companies with which he is 
connected: Secretary and treasurer of the West- 
ern Steel Car & Foundry Co.; secretary and 
treasurer of the Pressed Steel Car Co.; director 
of the ( lolonial Sugar ( '<>. ; Crimora Manganese 
Co.; Davis Creek Coal & Coke Co.; Schloss 
Sheffield Coal & Iron Co., and other important 
corporations. Mr. Larkin lives at Xutley, 
N. J., and is a member of the University. 
Racquet, Down Town and Garden City Golf 
clubs. 

Development of the Bronx during the past 
10 years has been the marvel of all students 
of our municipal growth. The one man who 
has contributed most of thought and energy 
to the creation of its magnificent park system 
is Matthew P. Breen. He was elected to the 
Assembly in 1882. when the Annexed District, 
as then described, had a population of less 
than 50,000; hut. foreseeing the future con- 
solidation of all surrounding territory, lie in- 
troduced a resolution on February 14. 1882, 



providing for the purchase of the land that 
has since been utilized for broad boulevards 
and Bronx Park. Judge Breen was born 
in County Clare, Ireland. December, 1848, 
the son of a civil engineer. He was educated 
at Dublin University, came to New York in 
1866, where he entered the law office of Ham- 
ilton W. Robinson, late Chief Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas. Admitted to the 
bar in 187:>. he began practice for himself and 
took an active part as an Independent Dem- 
ocrat in the dethronement of the Tweed ring. 
He was elected to a City Judgeship and was 
an organizer of the County Democracy of 
1880. In IS!)!) Judge Breen published a 
volume entitled "Thirty Years of New \ ork 
Politics," which I have read with delight from 
cover to cover and from which in the writing 
of this volume I have derived many sug- 
gestions. 

If anybody can be described as having from 
a humble start in public office obtained the 
full competency of chieftainship that man is 
Edward M. Morgan, Postmaster of New 
York since August. 1!)(I7. At the age of seven- 
teen (1873) he became a carrier in this city 
and by his fidelity was rapidly promoted until 
he was appointed superintendent of a branch 
office in 18S,'5. Three years later. Postmaster 
Van Cott placed him in charge of the city de- 
livery and he served as assistant postmaster 
under Van Cott and Willcox and when the 
latter acquired a place on the Public Service 



272 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Commission, no other name than that of Mr. 
Morgan was suggested to sneered him. lie 
hails from Michigan and is another response 
of the country to the city. No notice of Mr. 
Morgan would be complete without distinct 
reference to his achievement in perfecting the 
pneumatic tube system, to-day complete, for 
the prompt transmission of mail between the 
various sub-stations and the general postoffice. 
During the year 1!)1(). every sub-station in 
Manhattan was brought into direct commu- 
nication. So efficient is this service that it is 
possible to mail a special delivery letter at any 
one of the branch postoflices on Manhattan 
Island to any part of the business or developed 
residential sections of Greater New York and 
to receive an answer thereto within two hours. 
Direct communication has been maintained 
with Brooklyn through two large conduits 
across the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Belonging to a family that had lived three 
centuries in the territory now designated as 
the "Empire State." John B. Coles Tappan 
is an excellent example of the successful New 
York lawyer. lie was born at the pretty 
country place. "Dosoris," near (den Cove, 
L. [..April, 1860. lie entered Yale at the 
age of Hi and was graduated in 1880. Thence 
he pursued a course of study at Columbia 
Law School, under the lamented Dr. Dwight 
and Professor Chase, taking his degree as a 
lawyer in 1882. A year later, he began prac- 
tice. The firm of Tappan & Bennett was 
soon after formed. Mr. Tappan spends his 
summers at his country home at (den Cove 
and his winters at the Hotel Gotham. lie is 
a member of the Yale. City. Republican, Nas- 
sau County, Whitehall. Reform, Economic, 
Psi Upsilon, Huntington County and Yale 
Graduates (New Haven) clubs; Sons of the 
American Revolution and all the State. County 
and City Bar Associations. 

In the fall of CSS?, when the Delta Kappa 
Epsilon Club, on Fifth avenue, was at its 
zenith, a young Georgian, fresh from Yale 
College named Clifford Wayne Hartridge, 
was one of the most popular members. He 
had been an athlete at Sale and excelled in 
nearly all kinds of sports. Mr. Hartridge was 
born at Savannah. June. 1866, prepared for 




CL II FORD W. HARTRIDGE 



college at the Bellevue High School. Virginia, 
and was graduated at Yale, 1887, and at Co- 
lumbia Law- School, 1889. Forming a part- 
nership with the late Justice Leslie W. Bus- 
sell he began the prac- 
tice of law in this city, 
and continues a most 
active business at 14!) 
Broadway. He was 
counsel during the first 
trial for Harry Thaw, 
who shot Stanford 
White. He is a Demo- 
crat, member of the 
Columbian Order S. A. 
R. His clubs are the 
New York. Manhattan, 
New York Yacht. Yale. 
Democratic and Chats- 
worth. 

Since his admission to the bar, John J. 
Kuhn has been unusually active in every phase 
of legal work and in consequence has come to 
be recognized as one of the leading prac- 
titioners in Brooklyn. 

Mr. Kuhn was born in that borough. March 
?. IS??, and was educated at the Brooklyn 
High School and Cornell University, from 
which he graduated LL.B. in 1898. He was 
admitted to the bar the same year, and be- 
came a clerk in the office of Bergen & 
Dykman. which eventually became Dykman, 
Carr c\: Kuhn. Mr. Carr retired upon his 
election to the Supreme Court and the firm 
became Dykman. Oeland & Kuhn and is 
recognized as one of the principal law firms 
in Brooklyn. 

Mr. Kuhn is a Democrat in politics and is 
a member of many clubs ami associations. 
He was formerly International President of the 
Delta Chi fraternity and for many years was 
an officer of the same or on its governing board. 

Among the active and younger lawyers. I 
must not forget to mention List on L. Lewis, 
a fellow Cornellian, born at Franklindale. 
Bradford, Pa.. 1870; graduated from Cornell, 
1892, and from Harvard Law School. 1!)<)1. 
He engaged in the publishing business, after 
leaving Cornell, and was for two years Chicago 
manager of Dodd, Mead & Co. He then 
became vice-president of Powers. Fowler & 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



273 




LISTON L. LEWIS 



WILLIAM A KEENER 



NO! I GAL] 



Lewis. Chicago, which relation was maintained 
until 1898. Then followed the law course 
at Harvard and active entrance into practice, 
after admission to the bar. His beginning 
was as a member of the law firm of Hatch. 
Keener & Clute, but in 1905 the partnership 
became Keener & Lewis until 1910, since 
which time Air. Lewis has been practicing 
independently. While in college, he belonged 
to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He is a 
member of the Bar Association of the City 
of New York. Chancellor Walworth Lodge, 
F. and A. M.. and Pennsylvania Society. His 
clubs are the Union League, Lawyers, Repub- 
lican and Cornell University. 

A worthy Georgia contribution to the legal 
fraternity of this city is William Albert 
Keener, born at Augusta, March, 1856, and 
graduated in the classics at Emory College, 
Oxford. (la., in law at Harvard University. 
1877. and since honored with LL.l). by the 
Western University of Pennsylvania. Mr. 
Keener was formerly a Justice of the Supreme 
Court of New York; successively Story pro- 
fessor of law at Harvard and Kent professor 
of law and Dean of the School of Law at 
Columbia. Mr. Keener is now actively en- 
gaged in practice in this city. He is the 
author of a 'Treatise on Quasi-Contracts " 
and editor of "Cases on Contracts," "Cases 
on Quasi-Contracts," "Cases on Equity Ju- 
risdiction " and " Cases on Corporation." He 
is President of the Hoard of Managers of the 
Manhattan State Hospital. His chilis are the 



Union League, Century. University. City. 
Lawyers and Republican; he is a member of 
the Bar Association of New York City. 

The bar of the City of New York is cos- 
mopolitan in the sense that it has drawn, not 
only upon many foreign lands, but upon every 
slate in the Union in its composition. The 
State of Ohio is not behind in this respect, for 
it has given us some distinguished counselors 
and attorneys. Like another member of the 
linn of Strong & Cadwalader, Henry W. Taft. 
Noel Gale hails from the Buckeye state. 
Born at Unionville in 1862, son of Edmund 
Gale, he was educated at Oberlin, and grad- 
uated therefrom. 1882, with the degree of 
A.B. The firm of Strong <S: Cadwalader. of 
which he is a member, enjoys preeminent 
standing in the legal profession. Mr. Gale 
is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon 
fraternity and of the University. City. Midday 
and Knollwood Country clubs. 

Maryland's contribution to the New ^1 ork 
bar is headed by Camillus G. Kidder, born 
at Baltimore. July. 1850. His preparatory 
education was obtained at Phillips Academy. 
Exeter. N. II.. whence he went to Harvard 
University and was graduated in 1872. He 
then took a three years' course at Harvard 
Law School, achieving LL.B. cum laude. 
New York City welcomed him in 1876, when 
he entered the law firm of Emott, Burnett & 
Hammond, in which he later became a partner. 
Mr. Kidder has held local offices at Orange, 
\. J., where he lives, and has favored ninniei- 



-211 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



pal reform movements; he is ;it present a 
member of the Essex County Park Commis- 
sion. He was originally a Republican, he- 
came a Cleveland Democrat, but is now back 
in the Republican fold. He took an active 
part in the Cleveland campaigns of 1884, '88 
and *!)'2. He is an officer of several large pri- 
vate realty companies. Among his numerous 
clubs are the University, Century, Harvard. 
Reform and City; he belongs to the Bar Asso- 
ciation of Xew York, the New England So- 
ciety and the Hunker Hill Association. 

A Kentucky lawyer who has attained success 
in Xew York is William Beverly Winslow, 



low is a descendant of the Virginia Beverlys 
and Winslows. 

Among the men who were in Columbia 
Eaw School with me. sitting under the in- 
struction of Theodore W. Dwight, was Henry 
C. Henderson, who was born in the old town 
of Westchester in 1849. To my surprise, I 
found that we had been fellow students at 
Cornell University, where Mr. Henderson 
took a degree in Civil Engineering in 1872. 
Although he was successful as an engineer. 
his leaning was toward the law and that fact 
induced him to enter Columbia, where he took 
his LL.B. in 1878. His first opportunity 




WILLIAM BEVERLY WINSLOW 



HENRY C.JHENDERSON 



WILLIAM C. BREED 



author jointly with William Hepburn Rus- 
sell, of "A Syllabus-Digest of the United 
States Supreme Court Reports," in four vol- 
umes, pronounced by members of the legal 
profession tin- best work of its kind because 
of an original method of arrangement and 
extraordinary accuracy. Mr. Winslow was 
born at Carrollton. Ky.. 1862. Was admitted 
to the bar of bis native state in 1SS.'5 and of 
Xew York in 1S!).5. His father and grand- 
father were lawyers, the former being a chum 
of Justice Harlan. Russell and Winslow are 
responsible for the decree in the Supreme 
Court of Massachusetts, which has become a 
leading precedent throughout the United 
States, on the question of liability of directors 
of corporations for secret profits obtained in 
promoting (Hex ward vs. Leeson). MY. Wins- 



for distinction was in the Mazet Legislative in- 
vestigation when he acted as counsel for several 
of the accused police officers and since that time 
has gone steadily forward as a counsellor, 
appearing before the New York Court of 
Appeals and the United States Supreme 
Court in many important cases. Mr. Hen- 
derson's love of country life induced him to 
moveto White Plains, wherehe hasan attractive 
home. He is fond of all outdoor sports. He 
formerly took an active interest in politics but 
has never been a candidate for office. 

William Constable Breed was bom in 
Malone, Xew York, on June L 24. 1871. Grad- 
uated from Amherst College in 1893, where 
he took an A.B. degree (with Phi Beta Kap- 
pa). Graduated from the Xew York Law- 
School in IS!)."), admitted to the bar of the 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



:i.> 



State of New York in 1895, and since thai 
time has been in active practice of the profes- 
sion of law in New York City. Now of the 
law firm of Breed, Abbot & Morgan. He is 
a director of the [rving National Exchange 
Bank, director of the Merchants Associa- 
tion of New York, a Republican, and a 
member of the Bar Association of the City 
of New York, Psi Upsilon Fraternity, the 
Union League, Lotos, Republican, Church, 
Downtown, Knollwood Country and Sleepy 
Hollow Country Clubs. 



friend. George B. He is a Democrat by in- 
clination, but vcrv independent in his polit- 
ical views. 

Michigan lias contributed to the metropolis 
a highly successful member of tin" bar in the 

pers I Charles Larned Atterbury, born at 

Detroit in 1842 and educated at Yale College, 
lie began the practice of his profession in De- 
troit but soon came to New York as solicitor 
of the Erie Railway; later he became Assistant 
President of that company, lie attracted at- 
tention 1>\- the efficiency of his work and was 




GEORGE It COVINGTON 



I'll VRLES I. ATTERBUR> 



SAMUEL A. BEARDSLEY 



A member of the "delegation" from the 
historic state of Maryland is George 15. Cov- 
ington. Born in Snow Hill, Worcester County, 
he studied at Princeton, and was graduated 
cum laude in 1S!>(). After leaving college, 
George B. Covington taught mathematics at 
Macalister College, St. Paid, Minn. Prompted 
probably by the same analytical temperament 
that predisposed him to a study of mathematics 
he determined upon the profession of law 
as a life occupation and came here to study 
at the New York Law School the difficult 
science of solving human tangles and prob- 
lems. The wisdom of his choice of profes- 
sion has been amply demonstrated. Mr. 
Covington is at present counsel for the Ha- 
vana Central Railroad and many other im- 
portant corporations. General Covington, of 
the Revolutionary Army, an ancestor, served 
in Congress, as also did the father of my 



appointed counsel of the Chicago & Atlantic 
Railway and the Pullman Palace Car Com- 
pany. These two important steps assured his 
.success in corporation work and he is to-day 
counsel for numerous organizations of that 
character, in all parts of the country. The 
present title of his firm is Atterbury & Mnl- 
lally. He is a prominent member of the New 
York Bar Association and an excellent after- 
dinner speaker. His social connections are 
with the Century and University clubs of this 
city. He is an enthusiastic lover of all athletic 
spoils, and delights in the open air. 

Samuel A. Beardsley was born in Ltica. 
\. \ .. December, 1856. He received his law- 
degree from Hamilton College Law School 
and after studying in the office of Beardsley. 
Cobenham c\: Burdick, was admitted to the 
l>ar in 1ST!). His Father and grandfather also 
were lawyers. Mr. Beardsley became special 



276 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



city judge in 1886, serving until 1888, when 
he became city judge, which position he held 
till 1892. He later practiced law in Utica and 
in New York City, where the firm of Beardsley 
& Hemmens was formed. At that time. 
Beardsley & Hemmens became counsel for the 
Xew York Edison and constituent companies. 
Mr. Beardsley was a member of the State 
Board of Railroad Commissioners from 1892 
to 1896 and served as member of and secre- 
tary of the Democratic State Committee, 1889 
to 1892. He is a director of the United Elec- 
tric Light & Power Co. ami of the Utica 
Gas & Electric Co. He is a member of the 
Xew York Bar Association. Utica Chamber of 
Commerce, of the Manhattan and Democratic 
cluhs in Xew York and of the Fort Schuyler, 
Sadaquada Golf (Utica), Maidstone (East- 
hampton, L. 1.) anil Oakland Golf cluhs. 

One of the first men with whom 1 became 
acquainted when the Delta Kappa Epsilon 
club was formed and its clubhouse opened 
on Fifth Avenue, was David Bennett King, 
scholar, author and lawyer, who had come to 
Xew York from Lafayette College and entered 
partnership with Edward G. Black. Mr. 
King was horn at Mt. Pleasant, Pa.. June. 
1848; after an elementary schooling in his 
native town, entered Lafayette College and 
was soon chosen a "D. K. E." After grad- 
uation, his excellence in Latin secured for 
him a tutorship, and later a professorship of 
Latin until 1886. During this time, he read 
law. While Mr. King has pursued the prac- 



tice of law with success, he finds great pleas- 
ure in literary work. He is a profound 
student of the classics and regarded as an 
authority on the language of Ancient Rome, 
his work on "Latin Pronunciation" being a 
text-book in several parts of the world. 

Another lawyer who has held a very promi- 
nent place in his profession in this city, Rastus 
S. Ransom, comes from Illinois, where he was 
born at Peoria, in 1839. He enjoyed a com- 
mon school education, supplemented by five 
terms as a country school master. lie never 
had any college education but came to Xew 
York in 1 <S 7 ( ► to become managing clerk in the 
law office of Chester A. Arthur, soon after 
Collector of the Port of Xew York, and in 
1881 successor to Carfield as President of the 
United States. Mr. Ransom was elected 
Surrogate of the City and County of Xew 
York, in 1SSS. and served six years. Imme- 
diately after Fort Sumter was fired upon, at 
the age of twenty-two. Mr. Ransom enlisted 
and became First Lieutenant of Company 
II. Fiftieth X. Y. Engineers. He served with 
the Army of the Potomac throughout the 
Peninsular campaign. He is a member of 
the Loyal Legion and of the Grand Army of 
the Republic and President of the Society of 
American Authors. He is a Democrat and 
belongs to the City Club of New York, the 
Army and Navy Club and the Masonic Club. 

When one finds a successful lawyer in the 
city of Xew York, who has obtained high 
university honors and built up a large prac- 




RASTUS 



R \\.-< i\I 



DAVID B. KING 



ALGERNON S. NORTON 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Zl t 




SOL. M. STRl II ICK 



EDWIN A. \V Vl'si IN 



\1 - I I \ I I 1 l.T \\ 



tice, cherishing the memory of his college days 
above mere professional success, we meet with 
a man we like to talk about. Algernon S. 
Norton lias practiced law for IS years. He 
was born at Homer in this state in 1860 and 
prepared for college at the Cortland Academy 
and Normal School, took an A.B. degree at 
Cornel University in 1886 and was graduated 
at the New York University Law School in 
1892. Although he was a contestant for the 
Woodford medal for oratory, president of his 
class and obtained Phi Beta Kappa at Cor- 
nell, I venture to say he recalls with greatest 
pleasure the raid made by his class, when he 
was a sophomore, upon the freshman class. 
Mr. Norton conceived and was chief actor in 
carrying out a plan by which an elaborate 
dinner, sent from Rochester to Ithaca, was 
taken off the train at Trumansburg, a station 
nine miles north of Ithaca, and served to the 
sophomore class whose members, impersonat- 
ing freshmen, had assembled at that place to 
enjoy it. Meanwhile, the hungry freshmen 
were waiting at the railway station in Ithaca 
for tin' banquet that never came. 

Edwin A. Watson, of the law firm of Umax 
& Watson, is a New Yorker, born and bred. 
His place of birth was Clinton street. ( )ld New 
York, and the year 1874. He is, therefore, at 
thirty-seven years of age, entering upon a 
career of unusual prominence. His education 
was acquired in the public schools, although 
he took a finishing course at the Polytechnic 



Institute. Brooklyn. He then entered the law 
offices of Truax & Crandall, of which the late 
Justice Charles II. Truax was a member. 
While the Justice was off the bench for one 
year. Mr. Watson acted as his secretary; and. 
upon the Judge's reelection in 1896, the young 
man went to the Supreme Court as secretary to 
the Justice and continued in that capacity until 
admitted to the bar, in 1900. The present 
firm was organized in September of that year, 
and has acquired a large commercial law prac- 
tice. Mr. Watson, for the past nine years, 
has had personal charge of litigation by prop- 
perty owners against the Brooklyn Rapid 
Transit Company for construction of trolley 
road on Union street in that Borough; and the 
Court of Appeals finally crowned a nine years' 
contention in favor of the property owners. 
giving damages for the unlawful use of that 
street. Mr. Watson was one of counsel for 
Senator Ben. Conger, in the trial of his 
charges against Senator Jothan P. Allds, in a 
trial before the New York State Senate for 
accepting money for his vote. The burden 
of preparing all evidence used in that famous 
trial fell upon Mr. Watson. He was also en- 
gaged as counsel by Superintendent Hotchkiss 
in the Fire Insurance Investigation of 1909-'10. 
Dining the year of "the Roosevelt landslide" 
(1904), Mr. Watson ran for Senator on the 
Democratic ticket, against Charles Cooper, 
in the Eighth Senatorial District. Brooklyn, - 
the strongest Republican senatorial district in 



278 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



the state of New York. Notwithstanding the 
trend of public opinion in that year and the 
fact thai Roosevelt heat Judge Parker l>y 
13,900 in that district, Cooper won by only 
:5.1(i() plurality. 

A young lawyer of especial promise is 
Arthur I). Truax, son of the late Justice 
Charles II. Truax, of the Supreme Court, 
lie was bora in lliis city in 1872 and was 
educated at private schools and Hamilton 
College, where he was a member of the class 
of 1894 and a I'si Upsilon man. Thereafter, 
he studied for two years at Dresden, Germany. 
After completing a course at the New York 
Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 
IS!)?. Nothing could lie more natural than 
that Mr. Truax would adopt the profession 
that had appealed to so many of his forebears. 
His lather. Charles II. Truax was twenty- 
eighl years on the bench in the Superior and 
Supreme Courts of this city; Chauncey W. 
Shaffer, one of the most prominent counsellors 
of the preceding generation, was his grand- 
uncle. The Truax family is of old Holland 
ancestry and have always been prominent 
members of the Holland Society. He belongs 
to the New York Athletic and Manhattan 
clubs and the Society of the Sons of Oneida, 
lie served as his father's private secretary for 
four years until he began to practice law for 
himself, in 1900. A very warm attachment 
existed between the young man and lus dis- 
tinguished father. Justice Truax. A memorial 
consisting of a bas-relievo of Justice Truax 
was recently unveiled above the great marble 
fireplace in Special Term. Part III, of the 
Supreme Court. Justice Engraham, of the 
Appellate Division, presided at that cere- 
monial. Eulogies were spoken by Senator 
Elihu Root, who had known the late Justice 
as a student at Hamilton College; by Francis 
Lynde Stetson and Justice Giegerich. The 
bas-relievo shows the Justice in Ins robes, with 
gavel held above an open law hook that lies 
before him. The face is slightly turned in 
profile. New York has never had a more 
genuinely popular and admittedly capable 
presiding justice than Charles II. Truax. I 
often met him at the Manhattan Club, where 
he was a directing force. Only a few weeks 
before his death, he was present at a large 



dinner party at the Lotos Club and received a 
popular ovation. Senator Root described the 
special capacity of Justice Truax when he 
said: "He had that directness of intuition of 
more value than imperfect human logic. Too 
often lawyers look upon a case as a game and 
upon the Judge as a referee to award prizes for 
points instead of making a simple and direct 
effort to ascertain the truth." Mr. Stetson 
described two kinds of judges: one who spins 
a science of justice out of books; the other who 
sees in cases before him their eternal relation 
to human life and interest. To the latter class. 
Justice Truax belonged. 

Regarded as one of the leading corporation 
lawyers of New York City. Sol. M. Stroock 
numbers among his clients some of the largest 
firms anil companies in the city. He was 
born here, September '•i'-i, 1873, and after 
attending the public schools entered the 
College of the City of New York, from which 
he graduated in 1891 with the U.S. degree. 
A course at the Columbia School of Political 
Science followed and he graduated from this 
institution with the Master of Arts degree 
in 1892. His educational equipment was 
completed in 1894, when he graduated from 
Columbia Law School with the degree of 
ILL. and the Toppan Prize in Constitutional 
Law. 

Upon his admission to the bar Mr. Stroock 
was associated with Morris Goodheart and 
was afterwards a member of the firm of 
Platzek & Stroock. Upon the elevation of 
Mr. Platzek to the bench of the New York 
Supreme Court, the firm became Stroock & 
Stroock, his brother, Moses J. Stroock, being 
a partner. 

A hustling law firm of this city, which has 
constantly appeared in the courts in important 
cases. House, Grossman & Yorhaus. has for 
its junior member one of our Austrian born 
fellow-citizens. Louis J. Yorhaus. He came 
to this country with his parents in 1873, when 
barely six years of age. and made his way 
through the public schools into the College 
of the City of New York. Having determined 
upon the law as his profession, young Yorhaus 
began as an office hoy with a prominent 
counselor, soon rising to be a clerk. lie 
entered the law school of New York Univer- 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



279 




LOUIS J. \ ORHAUS 



WILLIAM MITCHELL 



SILAS I!. BR( IWNELL 



sity, where he took a degree in 1889. After 
two years' further office experience, he was 
admitted to the bar in 1890, and formed a 
partnership with Mr. Grossman, leading to 
the present firm. Mr. Vorhaus possesses 
keen power of analysis, quick decision and 
argumentative skill in the presentation of 
cases. He has been exceedingly successful in 
jury trials. Strangely, he prefers civil eases, 
although he has won distinction as a criminal 
lawyer. 

Among the distinguished lawyers who have 
been in practice at the metropolitan bar for 
more than fifty years and associated with some 
of the most important civil cases during that 
long period is Silas Brown Brownell, born at 
Knoxville. Albany County, X. Y.. 1830. He 
was prepared for college under private tutors 
and at the Troy Academy and was graduated 
at Union College. 1852, winning Phi Beta 
Kappa. He has received the degree of LL.D. 
from Hobart and Columbia. Obtaining ad- 
mission to the bar in September. 1852, upon 
examination at the General Term of the 
Supreme Court, he practiced in Troy for one 
year and then came to Xew York, where he 
has since remained. For three years, he was 
managing clerk in the law office of Clark &• 
Rapallo, Horace F. Clark and (diaries A. 
Rapallo. subsequently Justice of the Court of 
Appeals. When the war broke out. Mr. 
Brownell volunteered and wen) to the front on 
April li), 1861, in flu- 7th Regiment. The 
firm of Brownell, King & Lathrop was formed 



in 1867; became Brownell & Lathrop in 1868, 
and Brownell & Patterson in 1896. He is a 
member of the ( lentury, University, Mayflower, 
City and other clubs; of the Presbyterian 
Union and of Lafayette Post, Xo. 140, G. A. R. 
He has been secretary of the Association of the 
Bar of the City of Xew York since 1878, and 
member of its Executive Committee since 
1880. 

Country life appeals to William Mitchell, 
who has been a practitioner at this bar since 
1<S71. but resides at Bryn Mawr Park. Yon- 
kers. He is a son of the late William Mitchell, 
Justice of the Xew York Supreme Court. He 
prepared at Columbia Grammar School and 
took a degree at Columbia College. After 
training under Professor Dwight, at Columbia 
Law School, hi' was graduated valedictorian 
of his class, in 1871. He at once entered the 
firm of Mitchell & Mitchell, but later prac- 
ticed independently. lie is a Republican, a 
member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, Hugue- 
not Association of America, and belongs to 
the 
Down Town clubs. 

Considerably past the four-score year mark. 
Benjamin F. Tracy is able to look back on a 
career of splendid activity and usefulness to 
the American people. He was born on a 
farm in Owego, Tioga County, X. Y.. April 
26, 1N.'5<). and was admitted to the bar at lin- 
age of twenty-one years. He has been prom- 
inent in politics since carlv manhood, being 



Union League, Xew York Athletic and 



280 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



elected District Attorney of Tioga County in 
1853, the youngest person ever elected to that 
office in the State of New York, and reelected 
in 1856. He was chosen to the Assembly 
in 1861 anil a year later assisted Governor 
Morgan in raising several regiments of troops 
upon the call of President Lincoln. Mr. 
Tracy became Colonel of one of the regiments, 
the 109th, and took part in the battle of the 
Wilderness, receiving a medal and being 
brevetted Brigadier-General for his conduct 
on the battlefield. His health failing, lie 
resigned and returned to Owego, X. ^ .. hut 
when he recovered he became Colonel of 
the 127th colored troop and retained the 
command until the surrender of General Lee, 
when he again resigned and resumed the 
practice of his profession. He was appointed 
U. S. District Attorney in 1866 and served 
until 1873. In 1SS1 he was made Associate 
Justice of the New York State Court of Ap- 
peals and served for two years. President 
Harrison appointed him Secretary of the Navy, 
which position he filled from 1889 to 1893. 
He was chairman of the commission which 
drafted the new charter for ( Jreater New \ ork, 
and was the Republican candidate for Mayor 
of the city in 1897. 

Cornell University always has been mighty 
upon the water; hut when Arthur J. Baldwin 
was at Ithaca, it achieved successes upon the 
"gridiron," as well. lie played on the foot- 
ball eleven for four years, graduating in 1892. 



Eleven generations in America is the record 
of the Baldwin family. Arthur J. Baldwin 
began the practice of law, after leaving the 
university, at Tonawanda, X. Y.. within sound 
of the mighty roar of Niagara, and continued 
in that court for five years. He came to New 
York m 1897, to enter the office of James B. 
Dill, with whom, in 1899, he formed a part- 
nership. When United States Attorney-Gen- 
eral Griggs, of Xew Jersey, resigned from the 

DO t O 

Cabinet of President McKinley. the existing 
firm of Griggs, Baldwin & Baldwin was 
formed. Mr. Baldwin is an enthusiast in out- 
door sports, as his university record would 
indicate. 

A Kansas contribution to the New* York 
bar is Thomas Ewing, Jr.. born at Leaven- 
worth, in 1862. He began his education at 
the University of Wooster, Ohio, and took an 
A.B. degree at Columbia in 1885. He studied 
at the Columbia Law School, but took his 
degree at Georgetown University in 1890. 
Since beginning practice in Xew York, Mr. 
Ewing has made a specialty of patent law, and 
has solicited several patents for well-known 
inventions, notably the fundamental claim of 
Frank J. Sprague on the multiple unit system 
of electric train operation and Prof. Pupin's 
patents on long-distance telephony. His great- 
grandfather, George Ewing, was with Wash- 
ington's army at Valley Forge and elsewhere; 
his grandfather, Thomas Ewing, was twice 
United States Senator from Ohio; Secretary 




ARTHUR J. BALDWIN 



THOMAS EWING, Jr. 



GEORGE B. LESTER 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



2S1 



of the Treasury and Secretary of the Interior. 
His father. Thomas Ewing, was a brigadier- 
general in the Federal Army. Mr. Ewing is a 
Democrat and belongs to the New York, Uni- 
versity, Columbia clubs and the Ohio Society. 
lie is a Phi Beta Kappa man. 

George Bacon Lester is a lawyer whose occu- 
pation is law, hnt whose recreations are yacht- 
ing, golf, riding and driving. Although a 
lover of the open air. Mr. Lester has decidedly 
"made good" in the practice of law. Born 
at Seneca Falls, N. Y., 1872, he was educated 
at Mynderse Academy and took a degree of 
LL.B. at Xew York University Law School. 
He is now a member of the firm of Lester, 
Graves & Miles and a director and general 
counsel of the Fleischmann Manufacturing 
Co. He is a member of the Lotos, St. Nich- 
olas, Apawamis, Orange County Golf, Auburn 
Country and Manhasset Bay Yacht clubs and 
Down Town Association. 



Elections, 1874 '93, and as U. S. Commissioner 
and Master in Chancery of U. S. Courts in 
Brooklyn since 1 S 7 4 . 

A summer home at Burlington, \'t., amid 
the scenes of his college days, is maintained 
by Mr. Allen, where he enjoys a thorough 
rest from the exactions of his manifold duties 
during the balance of the year. 

The death of .lames McKccn. a well-known 
lawyer of this city, in February, 191 1. removed 
a public-spirited citizen of Greater New York. 
He was born at Brunswick. Me., December, 
1844, and took a degree at Bowdoin College, 
1864. lie was admitted to the bar and be- 
gan practice in Xew York, 1867. lie was 
a member of the commission that revised the 
charter of Greater Xew York, but he espe- 
cially distinguished himself as advisory counsel 
to the Armstrong Committee that investi- 
gated the Life Insurance Companies of this 
state. He received the Republican nomina- 




JOHN J. ALLEN 



JAMES McKEEN 
I Deceased) 



I I i:l>!\ AMI I! MINRATH 



A lawyer who holds an eminent place at 
the bar in Greater Xew York is John Johnson 
Allen, who was born at Utica. X. Y., in INI-.'). 
Mr. Allen graduated from the University of 
Vermont in 1862, and from Columbia Law 
School in lS(!(i. He was admitted to the New 
York Bar in the same year and has been ac- 
tively engaged in practice ever since. 

Mr. Allen served as acting provost marshal 
in 1866; as assistant U. S. District Attorney 
in 1866 '?. l 5; as member of the Xew York 
Assembly in 1874; chief U. S. Supervisor of 



tion for Justice of the Supreme Court in 1903 
and afterwards became senior counsel for The 
Mutual Life Insurance Company. His col- 
lege honors have been distinguished by an 
election to Phi Beta Kappa, a reward for high- 
est scholarship. 

He was President for eight or ten years of 
the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn. President 
New England Society, member of Board of 
Directors Historical Society. I )i rector (or Trus- 
tee) Brooklyn Library, member Board of 
Education of old Brooklyn. Trustee College 



282 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




I \i !i IB A C \NTi IB 



ISAAC W. JACI IBSI i\ 



WILBUR F. EARP 



New York and other Boards, member Bar 
Association of New York. 

An active member of the well-known law 
firm of Iloadlv, Lauterbach & Johnson — one 
who pulls a laboring oar is Ferdinand U. 
Minrath, horn in this city, September, 1857; 
educated at the College of the City of New 
York and at Columbia Law School. For 
high scholarship, in the first-named institu- 
tion, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. 
We completed his law course in 1S7S and went 
at once with Morrison, Lauterbach & Spin- 
garn, predecessors of the present firm. Mr. 
Minrath has been almost wholly engaged in 
corporation practice. lie is a Republican, 
but never has held any political office; his 
clubs and societies are the Liederkranz and 
Arion. and the State. City and County Bar 
Associations. 

One of the really interesting men I found 
on the New York Herald reportorial staff was 
Jacob A. Cantor, who since those days has 
distinguished himself in law and politics. 
Mr. Cantor was born in New York in the last 
month of 1S;54, was educated at the public 
grammar and high schools, and, while work- 
ing as a reporter, took a course at the New 
York University Law School, securing a 
He was admitted to the Bar 
but it was not until eight years 
later that he developed a taste for public 
office. He was elected to the Assembly two 
successive years, and was then raised to the 



degree in 1S75. 
soon after. 



Senate, where he remained for eleven years, 
becoming the leader of the Democratic mem- 
bers. He was President of the Senate and 
Acting Lieut. -Governor in 18!).'> '!)4. He was 
elected President of the Borough of Manhattan 
on a reform ticket, in 1902, and has served as 
Chairman of the Committee of Highways and 
Parks of the New York Improvement Com- 
mission since 1904. Mr. Cantor is in active 
practice of his profession, making a specialty 
of corporation law. 

One of the most interesting will contests 
that has occupied the metropolitan courts for 
many years was that of Lawrence B. Jerome's 
attempt to break the will of his mother, 
Catherine II. Jerome. The lawyer in the 
case was Isaac W. Jacobson, an attorney of 
experience who had been associated with 
Ambrose II. Purdy and with General Horatio 
C. King at different times. The settlement 
of the Jerome will case, effected by Counsellor 
Jacobson, established him on a high plane 
in Ids profession. He was born in New York 
city in 1866 and obtained his education at 
the public schools and from private tutors. 
For a time he held a license to teach in the 
evening public schools; but in 1SS!) he was 
admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court. 
General Term of Kings County. He had 
read law with Thomas C. Ennever, Horace 
E. Deming, Colonel Benj. E. Valentine and 
the firm of Butler. Stillman & Hubbard. He 
owns a farm in Orange County, where he 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



283 



spends his summers. Mr. Jacobson is a 
Republican and is exceedingly prominent in 
fraternity circles, being a 33rd degree Mason. 
One of his latest achievements is the procure- 
ment of a permanent injunction against the 
Board of Health, restraining it from local inn' 
a tuberculosis clinic on Henry street, in a 
populous neighborhood of Brooklyn. 

Maryland has added to the legal stall' of the 
metropolis Wilbur F. Harp, who hails from 
Howard County, in that stale, where he was 
born in 1863. After a common school edu- 
cation, he studied stenography and began 
work as a shorthand writer in Baltimore at 
the age of twenty-three. He subsequently 
published a newspaper in Maryland for sev- 
eral years, hut in IS!)!) he came to this city 
and took up the study of law at the New York 
Law School. Mr. Earp is fond of referring 
to the fact that when he was tendered a posi- 
tion in Washington under Secretary Rush 
and went there to accept it. he chanced to 
meet Theodore Roosevelt, then a Civil Service 
Commissioner, to whom he stated his pro- 
spective duties and by whom he was advised 
to get into business for himself. For this 
change in his career, he expresses the utmost 
gratitude. Mi 1 . Earp is a Republican and. 
although born in a slave state, hail for fore- 
bears ardent supporters of the American 
Colonization Society, which founded the colony 
of Liberia. His great-grandfather, Major Wil- 
liam New ton. of Dorchester County. Md.. 
liberated all his slaves and sent them to 
Liberia about 1S V 2:>. 

Owing to the fact that 1 was probably the 
first out-of-Ithaca student at Cornell Univer- 
sity in 1868, 1 always have felt a friendship 
for alumni of that institution. This state- 
ment needs explanation. I had been at a 
Western college for two years, when I read 
about the university projected by Ezra Cor- 
nell and Andrew 1). White. I wrote for in- 
formation and received a circular stating that 
Cornell would open on the 15th of September, 
l<S(iS. 1 prepared to enter the Junior class 
and on the appointed day arrived in the then 
(plaint little town by its only switchback 
railroad. Not another student had come! 
There I learned that ow T ing to the unfinished 
condition of the two buildings then under roof. 



the opening hail been postponed until the 
isth of October! The registrar assured me 
that circulars announcing the postponement 
had been dispatched to every applicant for 
information. Mine was "the letter that never 
came." There I was. marooned for one long, 
lonely, dreary month; keyed up for examina- 
tion for advanced standing, I saw the danger 
of "getting stale." When examination da\ 
finally arrived, I succeeded m passing satis- 
factorily and was gazetted "Junior." 

Therefore, when 1 come to talk of Herbert 
L. Fordham, lawyer of this city, who has be- 
come an authority on real estate matters. I 
am reminded of the fact that he was one of 
the really prominent University men during 
his stay at Ithaca. He was born at Green- 
port, Suffolk Co.. in 1869. He entered Cor- 
nell in 1S!)() and soon, took rank as a 
debater as well as a student. He won several 
honors in oratorical contests. He was chosen 
to represent Cornell in a debate between that 
institution and the University of Pennsylvania, 
which attracted national attention. He was 
for a year editor of the Cornell Magazine, a 
publication of high literary excellence. His 
proficiency in scholarship is attested by the 
fact that he won Phi Beta Kappa honors. An 
additional year in the University Law School 
after his Ph.B. degree in '94 secured his ad- 
mission to the bar. 

He came to New York in the summer of 
1895 and served for a few months as a clerk 
in a law office, learning the executive and 
clerical details of the profession; hut in 1N!)(> 
he started for himself, and later the death of 
Judge B. II. Reeve, of the firm of Reeve & 
Bartlett, resulted in Ins succeeding the Judge 
in the firm. He maintains his home at Green- 
port, although he has a city residence. Being 
a Republican in politics and a natural orator. 
he has taken part from time to time as a public 
speaker in the campaigns of that party. One 
of the really noteworthy professional acts of 
his career was his successful defense of the 
large oyster interests of eastern Long Island 
against the claims of the town of Southold, 
the decision in which case by the highesi 
court of the state established the title of the 
State of New York to the bottoms of all the 
bays at the east end of Loup,' Island from 



'284 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




HliliBKHT L. FORDH \ \1 



Samuel m. <;audenhire 



CHARLES C. PAULDING 



Riverhead to Montauk Point. The effect 



of this signal 



victory becomes of amazing 



importance now that Fort Pond Pay has 
been decided upon as the future harbor for 
express steamers between Europe and this 
country. Mr. Fordham is a recognized au- 
thority upon the law applicable to oyster lands 
and the oyster industry and upon real 
estate law. and is also engaged as counsel to 
various interests. lie is a member of the 
State. City and American Bar Associations; 
a member of the Sons of the Revolution, 
Suffolk County Historical Society, Xew York 
State Historical Society, the American Eco- 
nomic Association, the Republican and Law- 
yers' clubs and other organizations. His af- 
fection for Long Island is natural, his family 
having lived there ever since 1640, when the 
Ilex. Robert Fordham was the Hist minister 
of. and the leader in the founding of the town of 
Hempstead, later becoming the second minister 
of the town of Southampton. 

Missouri contributes to the legal profession 
of the metropolis a charming friend of mine 
in the person of Samuel M. Gardenhire, who 
has not only achieved success in his chosen 
calling, but has written fiction of a high and 
popular older. Born in Fayette, Mo., Nov., 
1855, he was educated in the public schools 
of St. Louis, and went to Tennessee to study 
law. where he was admitted to practice, 1875. 
He returned to St. Louis to remain four years, 
when he removed to Topeka, Kan., where he 
was elected a municipal judge and sent to the 
State Legislature; after travel in Europe and 



the Orient, he came to Xew York, 1895, and 
formed the firm of Gardenhire & Jetmore. 
He is a Republican, an Episcopalian and 
author of "Lux Crucis," 'The Silence of 
Mrs. Harrold," "Purple and Homespun" 
and "The Long Arm." 

There is no question about Charles C. 
Paulding's revolutionary ancestry; his great- 
grandfather was John Paulding, one of the 
captors of Major Andre. Mr. Charles C. 
Paulding's forebears had settled in Xew 
Netherlands long before its acquisition by 
Great Britain. He was born in this city, 
December. 18(58, studied at the Berkeley 
School and took degrees at Yale University 
and Columbia Law School. He was a Psi 
Lpsilon man at Yale. Entering the law office 
of Alexander & Green, May. 1891, he re- 
mained there until appointed one of the solici- 
tors for the Xew York Central & Hudson 
River Railroad Co., which position he still 
holds. He is a Republican and lives at Ards- 
ley-on-Hudson, near the locality rendered his- 
toric by his great-grandfather's achievement. 
Mr. Paulding is an excellent example of an 
inheritance of fondness for hard work and as 
a member of an old American family early 
comprehended that success is only attained by 
perseverance. I envy him the genial asso- 
ciation with his chief, Ira A. Place, a fellow 
Cornellian. In addition to membership in the 
City, State and National Bar Association, Mr. 
Paulding belongs to the Yale. Union League, 
University, Republican, Transportation, Ards- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



285 



ley. Sleepy Hollow and Metropolitan (Wash- 
ington) clubs. 

Becoming dissatisfied with the exacting cares 
of commercial life, J. Stewart Ross, studied 
law while engaged in manufacturing pursuits 
and entered upon a more congenial career as 
a lawyer. He was born in Brooklyn and 
after graduating from the public schools there, 
became a manufacture]- of shirt fronts and 
during this connection read law in the office of 
the late James W. Culver and was admitted 
to the bar in Poughkeepsie, X. V.. in May, 
1875. Since that time he has been contin- 




J. STEWART ROSS 

uously engaged in the trial of cases and argu- 
ment of appeals, not only as attorney, but as 
counsel for other attorneys and has been 
successful in more than !)() per cent, of trials 
and appeals. In the case of Cunningham vs. 
Davenport, he established the revocability of a 
trust created by deposit in a savings bank and 
in the case of Hanlon vs. The Central Rail- 
road of New Jersey, he established the propo- 
sition, that while a railroad employee was not 
obliged to render special service, yet if he vol- 
unteered to do so. the railroad company was 
liable for any negligence in the performance of 
such volunteer service. He is a member of 
the firm of J. Stewart & LeroyW. Ross, and has 



been unusually successful. He is a Democrat 
in politics and in ISMS was a candidate for 
State Senator in a district that usually gave 
a Republican plurality of 9,500. He was de- 
feated by only 2,500 votes while the mayoralty 
candidate had a plurality of 8,500 against him. 
Since that time he has taken no active part 
in politics, devoting his entire time and energy 
to his profession. 

I have watched with interest the develop- 
ment of many a young lawyer out of the Dis- 
trict Attorney's office, which office affords 
such splendid preparation for a subsequent 
legal career. Although the practice has to 
do with criminal law. young assistants gen- 
erally find opposed to them lawyers of ex- 
perience and recognized ability, demanding the 
best talent of the prosecution to combat, and giv- 
ing valuable insight into the legal necessities of 
a great city that could come to them in no other 
way. Among those who received their early 
training in this manner is Samuel Thorne, 
Jr.. who was born at Saugatuck. Conn., June, 
1874, and graduated at Yale in 1896 with 
the degree of A. I?. He was a member at 
Yale of the fraternity of I). K. E., which has 
some significance in a college course, and of 
the Senior Society of Skull and Bones, a 
society peculiar to Yale, hut which admits no 
drones. His law course was takenat Harvard, 
leading to LL.B., in 1899. Mr. Thorne pre- 
viously had made a trip around the world 
(1891-2), spending the greater part of nine 
months in India. China and Japan. After a 
second trip abroad in the summer of IS!)!) 
he entered the law office of Stimson & Wil- 
liams. It was during the following winter, 
toward the close of the administration of 
Mayor Van Wyck, that the Committee of 
Fifteen, of which the late William II. Baldwin. 
Jr., who was President of the Long Island 
Railroad, was Chairman, commenced its activ- 
ities. Mr. Thorne was appointed as one of 
the assistant attorneys to this committee and 
was active in its service in more ways than 
one. The following summer he was appointed 
by Eugene A. Philbin, at that time District 
Attorney of New York County, a deputy 
assistant in that office, thus making his first 
real entrance into the legal field of the metrop- 
olis; he was reappointed under William Trav- 



286 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




JAMES A. GRAY 



OTTO F STRUSE 



FRANK WHITE 



ers Jerome; he aided in the trial of criminal 
cases and had charge of them himself until 
July. 1905, when he returned to civil practice 
in the office of Joline, Larkin & Rathbone. 
After a year and a half with this firm, which 
handled some of the greatest cases in the city, 
lie commenced practice for himself. In poli- 
tics. Mr. Thorne is a Republican and in church 
affiliation an Episcopalian. He is a director 
in the following organizations: Missionary 
Education Movement of the United States and 
Canada. Missionary Exposition Company, 
Vale Mission. Federation of Chinches of New 
York City, Westchester County Y. M. C. A.. 
and the Silver Bay Association. 

Georgia has made a creditable contribution 
to the New York bar in the person of James A. 
Gray, partner of the late John R. Fellows. Mr. 
Gray was horn at ( 'alhonn.Ca.. June, 1857, and 
enjoyed the benefits of a country school educa- 
tion. He began as clerk in the Probate ( onrt of 
Gordon County, and read law as an amuse- 
ment, without any intention of adopting it as a 
profession. He was admitted to the bar, 
however, went to Atlanta and was associated 
in practice with Hoke Smith, present United 
States Senator from Georgia. He came to 
New York at the age of .'54 and formed the 
partnership referred to above. In Georgia 
he had secured the acquittal of Nancy and 
Thomas Printup, charged with murder, one 
of the most noted trials in that state. His 
latest success in this city was the defense of 
Paul Geidel, a hotel bell boy, for the murder 
of "William II. Jackson, which resulted in a 



second degree verdict. In civil trials he has 
been exceedingly successful — especially so in 
life insurance litigation. I cannot avoid men- 
tioning the fact that Mr. Gray has reared to 
manhood and womanhood five boys and five 
girls. He is a member of the Southern and 
Georgia Societies and of the Democratic Club. 
He has held many minor political offices ami 
in 1SSS was Presidential Elector from Georgia 
on the Cleveland and Thurman ticket. 

Ha vin^ been successful as a lawyer, Otto 
F. Struse has found time to devote to local 
matters, being treasurer and trustee of the 
Brooklyn (E. D.) Dispensary and Hospital 
and trustee of the Industrial School Asso- 
ciation. 

Mr. Struse was born in Brooklyn. January 
20, 1859. He attended the public schools 
and then entered the College of the City of 
New York, from which he graduated in 1<S7!>. 
Two years later he graduated from the Law 
School of Columbia University ami was ad- 
mitted to the bar the same year. His practice, 
while a general one, includes the representa- 
tion of several corporations and financial in- 
stitutions. Mr. Struse is a Democrat in politics, 
but has never been active. He is a trustee of 
the Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburg; is 
a member of the Masonic fraternity and the 
Hanover and Crescent clubs of Brooklyn, and 
of the Brooklyn and State Bar Association. 

In addition to his large practice respecting 
corporations, Frank White lias found time to 
write several valuable works on legal subjects. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



287 



These include "White on Corporations," com- 
prising 1,500 pages, "White's Manual for 
Business Corporations," "White on Member- 
ship Corporations." He also was co-editor of 
"Dill on New Jersey Corporations" and acted 
as assistant to the consolidators of the corpora- 
tion laws of the State of New York in 1 !><)!). 

Mr. White was born in Deposit. N. Y., July 
L 27, 1858, and was educated at (dens Falls 
Academy. His legal training was obtained 
under the tutorship of Hughes & Northup, 
noted lawyers of Northern New York. 

Since his admission to the bar he has made 
a specialty of corporation practice and is a 
lecturer in that branch at the Albany Law 
School. He was chief of the corporation 
division of the Secretary of State's office for 
many years and also filled the office of First 
Deputy Attorney General. As receiver of 
the Hamilton Hank he enabled the stock- 
holders to reorganize with over a million dol- 
lars in cash. He is a Mason and a member of 
several law associations and social clubs. 



Rieger & Gans. This connection continued 
for nearly two years, since which lime Mr. 
Gans has practiced alone, specializing in 
commercial and real estate law and acting as 
counsel and director of several realty organi- 
zations. His offices are at 140 Nassau Street. 
He is a Democrat hut takes no active part in 
politics. He has few club affiliations but is 
interested, in a general way. in several char- 
itable organizations. 

Forsaking newspaper work for the law, 
Charles F. Holm, while finding his lines laid 
in pleasanter places, still sighs for the old days. 
He was originally connected with the New 
York dailies and made an effort to establish 
a daily morning paper in Brooklyn, but gave 
it up after a year of hard, persistent work and 
heavy financial loss. 

Mr. Holm was born in New York City, 
March S. 1862, and after attending schools 
in Schwerein, Germany, entered the Columbia 
Law School, from which he graduated in 
1882, with the degree of LL.B. He was admit- 




JOSEPH GANS JOHN T. HETTRICK 

Devoting his time to civil work alone and 
representing several large corporations. Joseph 
Gans is a successful practitioner at the Bar 
of New York City. Mr. Gans was born in 
Germany, May 17. 1881, and being brought 
to this country by his parents when quite 
young, was educated at the public schools 
and the New York University. He gradu- 
ated LL.B. and was admitted to the bar in 
1901. starting practice immediately and at once 
becoming a member of the legal firm of 



CHARLES F. HOLM 



ted to the bar the same year and is now a mem- 
ber of the firm of Holm! Whitlock & Sarff, and 
is engaged principally in corporation work. 

He is counsel and a director of the Hudson 
Trust Company, an honorary member of the 
Plattdeutscher Volksfest Verein and a mem- 
ber of the Montauk and Riding and Driving 
clubs of Brooklyn and ex-captain of Company 
C. 14th Regiment, N. G. N. Y. 

The city rooms of metropolitan newspapers 
have been sprouting beds of many clever and 



288 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



ago 



successful lawyers. Seventeen years 
encountered an active young reporter asso- 
ciated with the Xew York Recorder. He 
was John T. Ilettrick. born in Brooklyn, in 
August. 1868, and educated at the Boys' High 
School. At the graduation exercises. Post- 
master Joseph ('. Hendrix, who by the way 
was a college chum of mine at Cornell, pre- 
sided and was so attracted by young Ilettrick's 
address that he offered him a clerkship in the 
Brooklyn PostofEce, where lie steadily ad- 
vanced until he became an Assistant-Post- 
master. He resigned to take up active news- 
paper work and served for five years on the 
staff of local newspapers. He resigned to 
become political writer on the Xew York 
World where lie remained for four years, then 
going to the Xew York Times in a similar 
capacity. While employed as an active news- 
paper nian. he studied law. first entering the 
office of (iavnor. (Trout. DeFere & Hyde, 
prior to the election of present Mayor (iavnor 
to the Supreme Court Bench. Mr. Ilettrick 
retired from active newspaper work at the 
requesl of August Belmont when the latter 
undertook the contract for the present Sub- 
way. He retained that connection until March. 
1909, when he began the active practice of 
law. Mr. Ilettrick was named associate 
counsel to the Legislative Committee to in- 
vestigate the Telephone and Telegraph Com- 
panies of this slate. He has always Ween an 
active athlete and won many prizes in rowing 
contests. He is a member of the Xew York 
Athletic and Lotos clubs and Xew \ ork ( ounty 
Lawyers' Association. 

One of the younger school of attorneys who 
has distinguished himself in the practice of 
criminal law is Frederick B. House. City 
Magistrate. Born at Cooperstown on the 
banks of Otsego Lake in 1862, he grew up 
in that village of romance. After preliminary 
study in a local law office, he came to the Law 
School of the University of the City of Xeu 
York. He entered into practice, independ- 
ently, and into politics, enthusiastically. He 
was elected to the Xew York Legislature and 
served two terms (1883-'84). He formed a 
partnership with Mr. Friend in 1885, which 
continued for some time. The firm of House. 
Grossman & Vorhaus was organized in 1895, 



and continued until Mr. House was appointed 
a City Magistrate in January, 1907. He has 

been connected with many famous criminal 
cases during the past fifteen years. A highly 
interesting one was that of " Frenchv." or 
Ben Ali. a wretched Arab vagabond charged 
with the brutal murder of "Old Shakespeare." 
a notorious outcast. He was described as 
Xew York's "Jack the Ripper." Mr. House 
secured the acquittal of Marie Barbieri. an 
Italian woman, who had slain her lover, after 
she had been convicted. 

An ambition which withstood every form of 
privation impelled Asa L. Carter to become 
a successful lawyer. 

He was born in Ban- 
gor. Marshall (.'ounty, 
Iowa. September 11). 
1880, and attended the 
country schools there. 
After due preparation 
he entered the Univer- 
sity of Missouri and 
paid for his schooling 
by selling books and 
merchandise to his fel- 
law-students. He grad- 
uated in 1905 and was 
admitted to practice 
in Missouri the same 
asa l. carter year. Xot being satis- 

fied with his 1 e g a I 
equipment, he came to Xew York City for a 
course at Columbia University, registered 
there and became librarian in the law library 
in order to defray his expenses. He grad- 
uated A.M. and LL.B. in 1907 and being ad- 
mitted to the bar immediately started practice. 
While Mr. Carter's practice has been along 
general lines, he is gradually drifting into cor- 
poration work and to that end has made an 
exhaustive study of corporation law. 

A young Xew York lawyer who distin- 
guished himself as a member of the Constitu- 
tional Convention of the State of Xew York, 
at which the latest revision of flu- original 
state charter was made, is Thomas Gilleran, 
a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University in 
this city, and of the Xew York University 
Law School. In 1891, he began the practice 
of his profession in the metropolis and three 




THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



289 




TIIi IMAS GILLERAN 



HEADLEY M. GREENE 



JOHN M. WARD 



years later formed a partnership with Judge 
John Ford which lasted for one year. Since 
that time, he lias been practicing on his own 
account. The Constitutional Convention is 
one provided for in the original charter of the 
State of New York, meeting every ten years 
for the purpose of making alterations and 
amendments to the Constitution to meet con- 
ditions that may arise in passing years. Nat- 
urally, it is one of the most important legisla- 
tive bodies, composed of distinguished men and 
membership therewith is a marked recognition 
of ability. Mr. Gilleran is a member of the 
Manhattan, Catholic, Graduates and Siwa- 
ney Golf clubs and the Bar Association. 

Another lawyer from western New York 
State is Ileadley M. Greene, horn at Gorham, 
Ontario County. January, 1865; educated at 
the preparatory school. Canandaigua, and 
Rochester University, where he took a Latin 
scientific course. He then entered the law 
offices of Guggenheimer & Untermyer, re- 
maining with that firm more than four years. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1SSS; served 
as Transfer Tax Appraiser for 1906-'07. He 
is a Republican in politics and executive mem- 
ber of the County Committee from the Thirty- 
fourth Assembly District, where he lives. He 
confines his practice to civil, veal estate and 
corporation law. His clubs arc the Repub- 
lican. Union Republican and Pioneer Repub- 
lican. 

Superb physical condition joined with ex- 
cellent mentality is the best preparation for 



iiiiiiPiaiN education ;u tiic i eniis\ i \ aiua oism 

( College. I le became a professional ball playei 
in 1S7S, one year later joined the Providence 



a professional career. John M. Ward started 
out in life as an athletic enthusiast and amply 
made good in that line. He was born in 
Bellefonte, Pa., in 1860, and received his pre- 
liminary education at the Pennsylvania State 

3r 
ce 
team of the National League, as pitcher. In 
1883 he became a member of the original New 
York Giants. The same year he entered 
Columbia College, and graduated from the 
School of Law with honors in 1885, and with 
first honors from the School of Political Science 
in 1886. 

He organized and was president of the 
Brotherhood of Ball Players in 1886 and in 
1890 organized the Players' National League 
of Baseball Clubs, but retired from the game 
four years later to take up the practice of law. 
In 1!)1 1 , he purchased, with others, the Boston 
National League Baseball Club and became 
president of that organization. Mr. Ward 
resides near Babylon, on his private estate of 
225 acres, which includes the finest trout fish- 
ing preserve on Long Island. lie has figured 
prominently in National and Metropolitan 
golfing events, is a rhirty-second Degree 
Mason and is a member of the Elks and many 
social and athletic clubs. 

That Puritan stock has produced an ex- 
ceptionally large proportion of our useful and 
famous citizens is undeniable. One of Oliver 
Cromwell's Ironsides was Edward Allen, who 
left England upon the accession of Charles II., 



21)0 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




l i ; i: i > i : i : i ( ■ k h. ai.i.kn 



IRVING E. ZIEiil.F.I! 



RANDOLPH PAHMLY 



and came to America in 1661. Property 
acquired by him at Northfield, Mass., is still 
held by his descendants. Frederick Hobbes 
Allen, lineal descendant of Edward Allen, 
was born in Honolulu, where his father was 
Chief Justice and Chancellor of the Kingdom 
in the Pacific. He received the degrees of 
A.B.. A.M. and LL.B. from Harvard Univer- 
sity. In 1882, he became secretary to the 
Hawaiian Legation in Washington and was 
promoted to the rank of Charge d'Affaires 
upon the death of his Father in 1883, who 
then was Minister. 

Since 1884, Mr. Allen has practiced law 
in New York with a degree of success which 
requires no comment. 

Coming from Philadelphia, where able law- 
yers are said to be the rule rather than the 
exception, Irving E. Ziegler found it com- 
paratively easy to get into lucrative practice 
in New \ ork ( !ity. 

Mr. Ziegler was horn in Towamencin Town- 
ship, Montgomery County. Pa., September 25, 
1871, of German-Irish parentage. His early 
education was obtained in the country schools 
near his home and at the Millersville State 
Normal School, teaching in the school which 
he attended when only fourteen years old. 
He then entered Lawrenceville (N. J.) School 
under Dr. .lames C. McKenzie, in the class 
of <S(i. and went to Princeton College in the 
Class of '!>(). He was a member of the Class 
of '93 at the Law School of the University of 



Pennsylvania, at the same time studying under 
F. Carroll Brewster, the eminent jurist. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1S!).'> and during 
his early years of practice acted as counsel for 
eleven persons charged with murder, none of 
whom was hanged. 

Deciding to devote his time to civil practice. 
he fitted himself for corporation work and 
thus equipped removed to New York City, 
which offered a broader field in this line. He 
has been very successful, representing some 
large corporations and having clients in France, 
Germany and Austria. Air. Ziegler played 
right end on the Lawrenceville School foot- 
ball team, the Princeton College team and 
for three years filled the same position on the 
University of Pennsylvania team. He was 
always active in athletics during his college 
years and has a record of eleven seconds for 
the one hundred yard dash. lie is a member 
of the Whig Society of Princeton and a non- 
resident member of the Princeton Club. He 
is also a member of Mariners Lodge. No. 67, 
F. and A. M.; Oriental Chapter. No. 183; 
Royal Arch Masons. St. John's Commandery 
No. 4. Knights Templar and Lulu Temple. 
A. A. (). \\ M. S. of Philadelphia and of the 
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. In poli- 
tics Mr. Ziegler is a Republican and as such 
is a member of the Republican County Com- 
mittee of New York County and the Republi- 
can Club of the Twenty-third Assembly Dis- 
trict. He is a forceful and convincing speaker 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



^201 



and has been much in demand in several cam- 
paigns. During' his early life in Philadelphia, 
Mr. Ziegler was on one of 1 1 1 * - daily morning 
papers and has a wide acquaintance among 
the old-time newspaper men. 

Randolph Parmly, attorney-at-law, is the 
son of the Reverend Wheelock II. Parmly, 

who was for forty years a pastor in Jersey 
City. His grandfather, the Rev. Duncan 
Dunbar, was also a Baptist clergyman in the 
same city for almost an equal length of time. 
Randolph Parmly was born in Burlington. 
X. J., in 1<S5.'5. He was educated at the Has- 
brouck Institute, Jersey City, and at the New 
York University, from which he was graduated 
in 1875 with the degrees of A.B. and A.M. 
He became a member of the Zeta Psi and after 
a course at Columbia Law School in 1878 he 
began his career as a lawyer in Jersey City. 
Eventually he settled in Xew York to practice 
his profession. He has obtained an enviable 
reputation as an expert counsel and in corpo- 
ration matters generally and is counsel for 
several large corporations, among which are: 
The Safety Car Heating and Lighting Co.; 
Standard Coupler Co.. and the Rome Loco- 
motive & Machine Works and he is a mem- 
ber of several leading clubs and associations, 
among which are the University. Lawyers, Bar 
Association. St. Andrew's Society, and the 
Phi Beta Kappa. 

Among the successful lawyers of the younger 
set in Xew York I must not forget to mention 
a man of agreeable personality and manner, 
Alfred A. Cook, of the firm of Leventritt, 
Cook & Nathan. He is in touch with my 
own profession as counsel for the Xew York 
Times. Mr. Cook was born in San Fran- 
cisco. June, 1S78. but came to Xew York 
at an age sufficiently early to enioy the benefits 
of our public schools. Thence he passed to 
the College of the City of Xew York, where 
he took a B.S. degree in 1892 and. after post- 
graduate study at Columbia, received A.M. 
in 1N!)L His law course was completed a 
year later at the Columbia Law School, lie 
was chosen Phi Beta Kappa on account of 
high scholarship. He began practice in 1895 
and has now a large clientele. He is a Dem- 
ocrat and a member of the Lotos. Manhattan 
and Economic clubs, the Bar Association, 



Society of Medical Jurisprudence and the 
California Society. 

Andrew Delos kneeland.a lawyer of distinc- 
tion, who came to this city from Rome. X. Y.. 
ten years ago has already made a place 
for himself. Mr. Kneeland was born in 
Binghamion, this state, in 1863, and secured 
his education at Colgate Academy and I ni- 
versitv. He is a member of the Delta Kappa 
Epsilon fraternity. He was city attorney of 
Rome for several years and prosecuted sev- 
eral of the most important eases in Central 
Xew York. He was admitted to practice in 
Supreme Court in 1!)()0. He is a past-master 
Mason. 32d degree; Past Commander of the 
Knights Templar, a Trustee of the Society of 
Medical Jurisprudence and a Son of Oneida. 
He is independent Republican. He is also 
a member of the American Bar Association. 
the Bar Association of the State of Xew York 
and of the City of Xew York, and the Xew 
York County Lawyers' Association. 

As an orator of great ability and as a skilful 
and learned lawyer, Edward A. Sumner, has 
more than fulfilled the promise of his early 
student life. 

He was born at Rome. X. Y.. November .'5. 
185(5, and graduated A.B. from Wesleyan 
University in 1878 with honors in history 
and oratory. 1 1 is post-graduate work was at 
Yale and included political science, history 
and economics. Mr. Sumner was admitted 
to the Bar of Xew York in 188.5 and later to 
the Bars of Connecticut. Massachusetts, Ohio 
and Minnesota and all the Federal Courts. 
His specialty is corporation law. He is a Re- 
publican in politics and has made many 
speeches under the auspices of the National 
and State committees of that party. He is a 
member of the American Bar. Xew ^ ork State 
Bar, and Xew York County Lawyers' Asso- 
ciations, the Psi Upsilon fraternity, Xew Eng- 
land Society in the City of Xew York, Navy, 
League of America and the Xew York Yacht, 
Xew York Athletic. Yale, Sachems Head 
Yacht. Brooklyn Yacht and the Huntingdon 
Yacht clubs. 

Georgia's contribution to the legal fraternity 
of Xew York includes William Harman Black, 
born at Forsyth, in that state. He was edu- 



292 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 




A. DELOS KNEEI.AMi 



EDWARD A. SUMNER 



WILLIAM HARMON BLACK 



rated at the public schools of Atlanta, where 
lie finished in 1884, and began his career as 
private secretary to Joseph M. Brown, after- 
wards Governor of Georgia when that official 
was in the railroad business. From this posi- 
tion, Mr. Black was promoted to be the private 
secretary of Tinted States Senator Joseph E. 
Brown, and lived in Washington six years. 
He was always sincerely interested in the law 
as a profession, and occupied every spare 
moment in acquiring knowledge thereof. He 
was admitted to the bar, and became counsel 
for the Mallory, Clyde, and Metropolitan 
Steamship Companies, and prominent com- 
mercial institutions. He is author of Black 
on "NewYorkand New Jersey Corporations," 
and '"The Real Wall Street." He was Com- 
missioner of Accounts of Greater New York 
(1!)0I and 1905) and is at present special coun- 
sel for the City of New York in its litigation 
with the Subway conduit monopolies. Mr. 
Black organized in 1903, in connection with 
Commissioner John F. Calvin, the Citizens' 
Independent Democracy, and within a few 
months it had attained a membership of six 
thousand, and took an active part in the hist 
election of McClellan. He is a member of the 
Metropolitan and Lawyers' Clubs and of the 
Southern and Georgia Societies. He also 
belongs to Kane Lodge, F. and A. M. 

Mr. Black organized "The Association for 
New York," which has for its object: "To 
contend for the principle of the Government 
of Xew Yoik hv Xew Yorkers for New York, 



to challenge indiscriminate abuse and criti- 
cism of New York City, and to set forth her 
advantages as a place of residence for the 
citizen, as a point of production and distribu- 
tion for the manufacturer, and as a mart for 
the merchant." 

Mr. Black is president of the Corporations 
( )rganization and of the Accounting Company 
of Xew York, and is a director in the Com- 
mercial Trust Company, Alsace Realty Com- 
pany and the Topia Mining Company. 

While at Cornell University, Samuel S. Slater 
acted as correspondent for many of the lead- 
ing dailies in the large cities and established 
a record that it was thought at the time would 
turn him from legal to journalistic work. 

Mr. Slater was born in Xew York City, 
January 24, 1S70, and was educated in the 
public schools, at the New York University 
Law School and ( 'ornell University, graduating 
from the latter institution B.L. and LL.B., 
being Law School debater. Commencement 
Day orator and winner of the Law Thesis 
prize. 

Mr. Slater is joint author of Alger and 
Slater's Employers' Liability Law and while 
a member of the State Assembly he was author 
of the Franchise Tax Law. He also served in 
the State Senate during the sessions of 1901 
and 1902. Mr. Slater is a director of the 
Cold Process Company, United Cotton Gin 
Company, the Millington Company, and the 
Broadway Hotel Company. He is a member 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



293 




SAMUEL S. SLATER 



EMANUEL LI. BULLAKD 



JulIX S. SUMNEH 



of the Bar Association, Society for the Pre- 
vention of Cruelty to Animals, the Republican 
Club of the City of New York, the Harlem 
Republican Club, the Cornell Club and the 
Phi Gamma Delta. Phi Delta Phi and Alpha 
Zeta fraternities. 

Many a young man is handicapped in com- 
pleting his education by ill health. Such was 
the ease with Emanuel G. Bulla rd, who was 
horn in Waterford, X. Y.. in 1861. After 
making a thorough preparation for a univer- 
sity course at Phillips Exeter Academy, he 
entered Harvard in the class of 1884, but 
complete failure of his health prevented him 
from remaining until graduation. Acting 
upon medical advice, he went to Iowa, studied 
law there and in Minnesota and was admitted 
to the bar at Minneapolis. March. 1889. His 
father. Gen. Edward F. Bullard, practiced 
law in this state from 1842 to the time of his 
death in 1900. He came to New York City 
in 1891 and was first associated with Da vies. 
Short & Townsend, attorneys for the Man- 
hattan Railway Company, and later with 
Oudin & Oakley, counsel for American To- 
bacco Company. He began practice on his own 
account in 1896, and has argued many cases 
in the Supreme and United States Courts and 
the Court of Appeals. Recently he has de- 
voted attention to real estate in Queens Bor- 
ough, and is largely interested in property at 
Jamaica and Richmond 1 1 ill. Served on Com- 
mittee of One Hundred in city campaign 
of 190!). 



The Capital of the United States lias not 
been wanting in its quota of capable lawyers 
to add to the brilliancy of the New York Par. 
John Saxton Sumner was born at Washing- 
ton. I). ('.. September. 1876, and thirteen 
years later came to this city. He was educated 
in the public schools ami took a degree in law 
at the New York University in 1904, being a 
member of the Zeta Psi and Phi Delta Phi 
(law) fraternities. He began his career with 
Henry ("lews Co., bankers, where he remained 
ten years (1895 to 1905). During this period 
he studied law. He believes the experience 
obtained in Broad Street was of great value 
to him. Statesmanship and the legal profes- 
sion run in his family, although they skipped 
his father, who went into the Navy and re- 
tired as a Rear-Admiral in 1903. Naturally, 
after extensive experience in the Wall Street 
section. Mr. Sumner has a decided leaning 
toward stock brokerage litigation; but he is 
also successful in corporation practice'. He 
enlisted in the 114th Regiment. X. Y. S. 
Militia. May, 1898, to go to the Spanish War. 
but the regiment was not called out. He has 
been active in Democratic politics. 

An attorney who has been notably success- 
ful in the practice of his profession is Joseph 
T. Ryan. Mr. Ryan obtained his 1.I..B. at 
Columbia Paw School and a Ph.B. from St. 
Francis Xavier and was for three years con- 
nected with John M. Scribner, the famous 
railroad lawyer, in the practice of law. In 
1899 he entered upon independent practice. 



294 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Since that time Mr. Ryan has handled many 
notable eases. In the matter of the biennial 
election of a certain benevolent society, he suc- 
ceeded in establishing the principle of law that 
the Supreme Council of this society, as incor- 
porators, had not the right to continue them- 
selves by reelection as permanent life members 
of this Council, thereby maintaining control 
and management of the affairs and funds. Mr. 
Ryan is a keen golfer and equestrian, a mem- 
ber of the Catholic. Deal Golf, Allenhurst and 
Military Rough Riding clubs. 

One of the most energetic of the Assistant 
United States District Attorneys for the south- 



Utica and Litchfield, Conn., are related to 
him. Ten years' success in private practice 
caused his appointment as Assistant United 
States District Attorney. 

Three years ago. after living twenty-five 
years in the metropolis, he adopted country 
life and acquired a residence at \\i^\ Rank, 
\. J., giving iij) his city clubs and seeking the 
retirement of country life. 

One of New Jersey's valued contributions 
to the younger generation of metropolitan 
lawyers is James Renwick Sloane, horn at 
Princeton. January, 1881; was graduated at 
the University of New Jersey, !!)()(): at the 




JOSEPH T. RYAN 



CLARENCE S. HOUGHTON 



JAMES R. SLOANE 



ern district of New York known to me is 
Clarence S. Houghton, who served for nine 
years in that post and handled some of the 
most important cases that arose during the 
strenuous period of President Roosevelt's 
second term, when crooked corporations and 
smuggling importers were hunted to their 

DO O 1 . 

lairs. Mr. Houghton was born at Piermont, 

N. Y., in 1S()4. was sent to Phillips Academy, 
Andover. and then to Amherst College, where 
he was graduated in 1SSS. lie immediately 
came to New York, entered the Columbia 
Law School, was admitted to practice and 
opened a law office here. Meanwhile, he had 
taken a special course in law under Charles 
M. Bostwick. lie was induced to enter the 
law by an uncle, the late Augustus S. Seymour, 
for many years a Judge of the Supreme Court, 
of North Carolina. The Seymour family of 



Columbia Law School, 1 !)().'}. and studied two 
years at Trinity College, Cambridge. Mr. 
Sloane practiced law in London for one year 
to familiarize himself with British procedure. 
Returning to New York, he entered the office 
of Strong & Cadwalader. lie assisted Henry 
W. Taft in the prosecution of Tobacco Trust 
cases. His father is Prof. William M. Sloane, 
of Columbia University, author of "Life of 
Napoleon" and other histories. James R. 
Sloane is a member of the Bar Association, the 
New York Athletic and Princeton clubs. He 
was recently appointed a Condemnation Com- 
missioner on the Ashokan reservoir. 

A young lawyer from California who has 
specialized in patent law- is Seabury Cone 
Mastick. born at San Francisco, July, 1871, 
and educated at the University of California, 
where he received his LL.B. degree. Subse- 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



295 



quently, he took ;i special course in law at 
New York University and studied electrical 
engineering and chemistry at Cornel] Univer- 
sity. He was admitted to the bar at Sacra- 
mento in 1893 and three years later came to 
New York. Mi-. Mastick belongs to a family 
of lawyers. lie engaged in scientific farming 
in Westchester County and in 1907 success- 
fully undertook citrus growing in Florida, 
both farms having competent foremen as 
managers. As stated, Mr. Mastick has been 
especially successful as a patent lawyer, par- 
ticularly with reference to chemistry ami 
electricity. lie is a member of numerous 
social and scientific clubs and is a Son of the 



fell a compelling desire to enter the legal pro- 
fession and, since beginning his career, has 
been counsel for large mercantile concerns 
especially distinguishing himself by winding 
up the affairs of the Hank of Staten Islandfiii 
such a manner as to give satisfaction to the 
depositors. Thai litigation and settlement 
attracted a great deal of attention. He is one 
of the Hoard of Governors of the Progress 
Club. 

I'he metropolis acquired a capable lawyer 
in the person of .1. Douglas Wetinore, owing 
to his belief in the equality of man before the 
law and his fearlessness in appearing before a 
Florida court in defense of the rights of the 




SEABURY C. MASTICK 



NATHAN D. STERN 



J. DOUGLAS WETMORE 



American Revolution. He is a Republican, 
an Episcopalian and an enthusiastic Knights 
Templar. 

North Carolina has furnished another acces- 
sion to the bar of the metropolis in the person 
of Nathan I). Stern, a promising young 
lawyer who came here in his boyhood and 
has become essentially a New Yorker, from 
sentiment and training. Mr. Stern was born 
at Greenville, N. ('., August, 1877, but reached 
this city in time to take advantage of its ad- 
mirable public schools. Thence, he entered 
the law department of the New York Univer- 
sity, where he was graduated in 1897. Prior 
to that time, he had acquired a familiarity 
with the office business of his profession in 
association with Felix Jellenik, his present 
partner. From early boyhood, Mr. Stern had 



colored race. His experience is a story of 
universal interest. Mr. Wetinore was born 
in Tallahassee. 1870; attended the public 
schools of Jacksonville; spent one year at 
Atlanta University and read law at the Univer- 
sity of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was ad- 
mitted to the Florida Bar, and practiced at 
Jacksonville until 1 !)<)(>, when events I am 
about to relate made desirable a change of 
environment. In July. l!)(t.">. Mr. Wetmore 
won a test case in Florida that caused the "Jim 
Crow" street car law of that state to he de- 
clared unconstitutional. The decision was 
extremely unpopular to the white population, 
however much of a personal triumph it may 
have been from a lawyer's viewpoint. The 
case is famous throughout the South and is 
known as "The Slate of Florida vs. Andrew 



296 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Pattison." After braving the disfavor of his 
fellow townsmen for several months, Mr. 
Wetmore responded to "the call of New- 
York" and came here, where all men are 
treated fairly and amendments to the Con- 
stitution of the United States are revered. 

David Rumsey, Assistant Corporation Coun- 
sel of the City of New York, in charge of 
Department of Arrears of Taxes, turned ten 
years of arrears of taxes into cash, some five 
hundred million dollars of assessed property 
being involved. During his term of business- 
like administration, he demonstrated that 
these matters could be brought entirely up 
to date with a loss of only 1\ per cent. Mr. 
Rumsey is a son and grandson of Justices of 
the Supreme Court of New York. He was 
horn at Bath. X. Y.. in 1875, studied at the 
University of Rochester, where he was a Psi 
Upsilon man. and at Columbia Law School. 
He is. at present, counsel for and Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Continental Insurance Company, 
and of the Fidelity-Phenix Insurance Com- 
pany. He is a member of the Union League, 
the City Club and of the City and State Bar 
Associations. His work. "Rumsey on Taxa 
Hon," is a text-hook of value. 

Erie County, of this State, has given to the 
New York Bar James M. Hunt, born at 
Clarence. April. 1858. His father was a 
clergyman of the Baptist denomination and 
sent his son to the University of Rochester, 
where he was graduated in 1880. Removing 
to Yonkers, he began the practice of law and 



served as Corporation Counsel of that town 
from 1892 to 1901. He then opened an office 
in New York City, where he has since been 
engaged in general practice. Mr. Hunt is a 
Republican and member of the State and 
City Bar Association; he is a trustee of War- 
burton Avenue Baptist Church, of Yonkers. 
Mr. Hunt is intensely fond of outdoor sports, 
plays golf and spends much of his time hunt- 
ing and fishing in Canada. He is a member 
of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and of the 
Republican and St. Andrew's Golf clubs. 

William Lester Wemple.an Assistant Attor- 
ney-General of the United States, has actively 
cooperated with the Customs Department in 
prosecuting importers who undervalued their 
goods and in hunting down irregular postal 
officials in Cuba. Mr. Wemple had graduated 
from one college and had worked for two 
years in a private bank, before he began the 
study of law at Harvard Law School in 1900. 
Four years later, he was practicing his pro- 
fession in New York and was soon in the 
Government service, assisting United States 
Attorney Wise. His work in New York em- 
braced the customs scandals, most of the 
cases against importers being handled by 
him. The Duveen Brothers were willing to 
settle for $1,200,000 and to pay fines. He 
also prosecuted ('. F. Xeely, charged with 
irregularities in Cuban postal affairs, and 
secured a verdict for $113,000. President 
Taft appointed him an Assistant Attorney- 
General of the United States. Mr. Wemple 




DAVID RUMriEY 



OTTO G. FOELKER 



JAMES M. HUNT 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



297 




WILLIAM LESTER WEMPLE 



JOHN P. DUNN 



WALDO G. MOUSE 



comes from Illinois, where he was born at 
Waverly, May, 1877. He is a Republican 
and a member of the Harvard Club. 

The Corporation Counsel's office has grad- 
uated many successful lawyers, who have 
obtained therein valuable training. Among 
those I have in mind is John P. Dunn, horn 
on Manhattan Island in 1800, prepared for 
college at Public School Xo. 04 and given a 
degree by Fordham University in 1880. He 
then took a course at the Columbia Law 
School. After serving as managing clerk in a 
large law firm for four years, he was appointed 
Assistant Corporation Counsel in 1889 and 
defended several notable actions brought 
against the city. He organized the Bureau of 
Street Openings and Tunnels, acting as its 
chief from 1895 to 1910. He is a Democrat in 
politics; member of the Manhattan. Larch- 
mont and Oakland Golf clubs; a Knight of 
Columbus and served as Assistant Secretary 
to the New York Fire Department for two 
years. 

A sturdy and constant fighter in behalf of 
the preservation of the Palisades — one of 
the natural treasures of the Hudson River 
region — is Waldo Grant Morse, born at 
Rochester, March, 1859, of Xew England 
parentage. After leaving the University of 
Rochester, he studied law with Martindale & 
Oliver, was admitted to the bar in 1884 and 
has been in practice in this city since 1888. 
Mr. Morse was appointed a Palisades Com- 



missioner by Governor Morton and drew the 
Palisades National Reservation bills, which 
were passed by the legislatures of New York 
and New Jersey. He is a member of the 
American Academy of Political and Social 
Science. Society of Colonial Wars, Sons of the 
Revolution and the state, county and city 
Bar Associations. His clubs are the Law- 
yers, Reform, Amackassin, Quill and Seagull 
Golf. He is also a member of the Committee 
of the Scenic and Historic Preservation Society 
in charge of conserving the Highlands of the 
Hudson. 

From the foothills of the Adirondacks, 
harkening to "the call of the city," came 
Clark L. Jordan to practice law at this famous 
bar. He was born at Rockwood, Fulton 
County. N. Y.. January. 1801, educated at 
the common schools and Casanova Academy. 
He began service in his profession at Glovers- 
ville in 1882 and had excellent success as a 
trial lawyer. This class of practice has be- 
come his chosen work. He was the first 
Democratic mayor of Gloversville. After de- 
fending many of the criminal actions in his 
home and adjoining counties for more than 
twenty years, he came to New York in 1900. 
Here his capacity has been shown to greatest 
advantage in the criminal courts. He has 
successfully defended many important cases. 
He recentlv represented Lillian Graham and 
Ethel Conrad, charged with shooting W. E. D. 
Stokes, over which case the city was extremely 



298 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



interested and much amused. Mr. Jordan 
has been successful since beginning practice 
in this city. Owing to the open-air life in 
youth, lie is devoted to athletic sports. 

The great valley of the Mississippi con- 
tributed to the legal profession of the metrop- 
olis Wm. Hepburn Russell,* who. since his 
coining, in 1895, had been as active in politics 
as in law. Born at Hannibal. Mo., IS.*)?, he 
received his education at the public schools; 
he engaged in newspaper work and rose from 
reporter to editor of a local newspaper, study- 
ing law meanwhile. He was admitted to 
practice in 1882 and the same year became 



and belongs to the New York, Whitehall, and 
Manhattan clubs; has been President of the 
Missouri Society and also President and 
chief owner of the Boston National Baseball 
club. 

Among West Virginian contributions to the 
talent of this city is .Judge Charles Forrest 
Moore, now engaged principally in literary and 
platform work. Judge Moore was born at 
Dunmore, West Va., and after a preliminary 
course at the Vanderbilt University, Nash- 
ville, completed his education at the Univer- 
sity of Virginia. He began practice at Hun- 
tersville, W. Ya.. in January, 1887. In the 




CI.ARK T, JOR.D \S 



Will. I \M HKI'BIIJN RCSSi:i.I. 



ill \KI.KS F M :i 



City Attorney of Hannibal. He became a 
corporation lawyer, acting as general attorney 
for several railroads while located at Lafayette 
and Frankfort. Ind. Thence he removed to 
Chattanooga and served as Presidential Elector 
in 1892. He came to New York, three years 
later, where lie has practiced largely in the 
Federal Courts. lb' is quite an authority 
on special phases of the law. 

lie is the author, jointly with his former 
partner, Wm. Beverly Winslow, of Russell 
and Winslow's Syllabus-Digest of the United 
States Supreme Court Reports, now in its 
third edition. lie is one of the receivers 
of the Mutual Reserve Life Insurance Com- 
pany; a prominent Elk, a Knight of Pythias, 

Russell has - 



■Tin- untimely death of M 
was written. 



urred since the above 



same month, four years later, he moved to 
Clifton Forge. Va., and in 1894 was elected by 
the State Legislature as Judge of the County 
Court for Allegheny and Craig Counties. He 
moved to New York in l!)(l v 2. He was dele- 
gate from Virginia to the Universal Congress 
of Lawyers and Jurists held in St. Louis dur- 
ing the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition. Judge 
Moore has published *' A History of the States. 
United and Otherwise.** an ingenious and 
satirical treatment of many of the grave 
questions that have agitated this country. He 
is known as one of the best after-dinner speak- 
ers in this city and has spoken before many 
social and political organizations in various 
parts of the country. He is an Independent 
Democrat, a member of the Southern Society 
and "The Virginians." Has also been Presi- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



299 



dent of the Traffic Clul> of New York, and is 
regarded as an authority on transportation 

matters. 

With the indomitable will that character- 
izes the native New Englander, Stark B. Fei- 
riss has succeeded in New York City, where 
others with less obstacles to overcome have 
failed. 

Mr. Ferriss was horn in New Milford, Conn., 
and came to New York, after a brief schooling, 
to take up the study of law. He attended an 
evening law school here and then entered the 
New York Law School, graduating as an 
honor man with the Class of '!K5 and since 
twice serving his school as judge of its most 



case in which he appeared as one of the attor- 
neys for Albert T. Patrick. In general prac- 
tice he negotiated the sale of $6,000,000 of 
Brooklyn water fronl to the City of New York 
and was counsel in the Van Denburgh ex- 

i • • • 

tradition proceedings. lie is a recognized 
authority on the tax laws. 

Mr. Dalberg was horn in St. Louis. Mo.. 
July 27, 1875, and was educated al Columbia 
University and the New York Law School, 
graduating A.B. and LL.B. lie was admitted 
to the bar in 1897 and has been in active prac- 
tice ever since. lie is a Democrat in politics; 
was candidate for Alderman from 21st District 
in 1901 and was in charge of the bureau of club 




STARK B. KEHRISS 



MELVTN H. DALBEFK 



JAMES F. DONNELLY 



advanced examinations for prizes. For twelve 
years he was in the employ of the Title Guar- 
antee and Trust Company and in 1905 en- 
tered upon private practice. During his long 
connection with the Trust Company, and re- 
cently in his private practice. Mr. Ferriss has 
closed many large titles, some of them being 
very important private transactions. 

lie is now a member of the firm of Ferriss. 
Kocsser & Storck. Mr. Ferriss resides in 
Madison. X. J. He is also a counsellor at 
law at the New Jersey Bar and is a mem- 
ber of the State Bar Association of New 
Jersey. 

As an able trial lawyer. Melvin II. Dalberg, 
has figured in many important cases, promi- 
nent among them being the famous murder 



organizations of the Democratic National 
Committee in 1908; he was Assistant Tax 
Commissioner of the City of New York in 
1906 and 1907; in li)ll(i he became a member 
of the Board of Inspectors of The Mutual 
Life Insurance Company, by appointment of 
the State Superintendent of Insurance. 

Mr. Dalberg is a director of the Seminole 
Mining Company and the Physical and Sur- 
gical Hospital. He was formerly president 
of the Young Men's Democratic Club of the 
29th Assembly District and is a member 
of the Columbia College Alumni Association, 
the Dwighl Alumni Association; the New 
York County Lawyers' Association. Missouri 
Society. Zeta Psi and Masonic fraternities and 
the National Democratic chili. 



300 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



A young lawyer who has created a distinctive 
place for himself in this great city within the 
last ten years is -James F. Donnelly, horn at 
New Britain, Conn., IS??. He took a course 
at the Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass.; 
a degree at St. Francis Xavier College in this 
city and was admitted to the bar in 1902. For 
two years he served as an assistant in the 
office of Whalen & Dunn, hut in 1004 he 
opened an office for himself. He first came 
lo the front in the cast- of Samuel McMillan 
vs. Klaw & Erlanger. The latter firm had 
obtained from the Board of Aldermen a city 
ordinance permitting them to extend the 
front of the New Amsterdam Theatre, hut 
Mr. Donnelly established the unconstitution- 
ality of the ordinance. Another well-known 
case of his, Ortolano vs. the Degnon Con- 
tracting Co.. settled the question of the suf- 
ficiency of a notice under the Employers' 
Liability Act. Another memorable hit of 
litigation, namely, J. B. McDonald vs. The 
Mayor of New York, a highly important 
mechanics' lien case, created an exception 
to the rule that personal judgment could not 
he obtained by such action without demand. 
Mr. Donnelly is a Democrat and a member 
of several clubs. 

A comparatively young hut distinguished 
member of the bar and one who has won dis- 
tinction outside of his profession is Louis II. 
Porter, a son of Timothy H. and Marie 
Louise (Hoyt) Porter. Young Porter first 
saw the light of day in New York on 
March Hi. 1S?4. He received his early edu- 
cation at Andover and subsequently he was 
graduated at Yale in 1896 with the degree of 
B.A. He received the oration appointment 
and was awarded special honors in history 
and economics. 

He took the degree of LL.B. in 1898 at the 
New York Law School, and immediately en- 
tered upon the active practice of his profes- 
sion. He now controls a very large and in- 
fluential clientele, consisting of the larger 
corporations of New York City and its 
suburbs. In 1901, Mr. Porter married Ellen 
Marian Hatch, daughter of Richard J. and 
Eleanor Merrill Hatch. Four children were 
born to this union: Louise Hoyt, Louis Hop- 



kins, Jr., Joyce and Beatrice. In addition to 
the large practice Mr. Porter is identified with, 
he finds time to he on the directory of the 
Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company, 
and is President and Director of the North 
American Mercantile Agency Company. He 
is a member of the Yale. University and 
Hardware Clubs; of the New York City, New 
York State. New York County Lawyers' and 
American Bar Associations and of the Com- 
mercial Law League of America. He is like- 
wise a member of the Ornithologists' Union 
and of the Linmean Society. 

Mr. Porter is a devotee of country life and 
lives at Stamford. 

Vermont has contributed another member 
of the New York Bar in the person of Henry 
Boynton Johnson, of the firm of Niles & 
Johnson. He was horn at Woodstock, July. 
1862, and hetookadegreeat Dartmouth in 1883, 
being a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. 
After serving in the Claim Department of a 
western railroad, he was admitted to practice 
in 1SSS. The present firm was organized a 
year later. His specialty is corporation law 
and estates. He naturally acquired a taste 
for real estate and has occupied himself also 
for six or seven years in the development of 
the country residences situated at Shoreham. 
L. I., on a high bluff on the shore of Long 
Island Sound, opposite Bridgeport. He has 
a summer place in Vermont and is a lover of 
horses, although keen on motoring. He is 
quite a club member, belonging to the Union 
League, Riding. Dartmouth and several coun- 
try clubs. 

One of the most scholarly men in the legal 
profession in New York to-day is Floyd Baker 
Wilson, born at Watervliet. this state, in 1845. 
After taking a classical course at the Univer- 
sity of Michigan and studying law at the Cleve- 
land Law College, he was admitted to the 
bar in 1873, practiced at Chicago until 1SS0 
when he came to New York, where he has 
since lived. Corporation law has been his 
specialty; he is one of the best-informed men 
in this country on Spanish-American laws as 
affecting property rights. He has been sent 
to Europe on many occasions as representa- 
tive of corporations. His last enterprise of 
that kind was in association with a southern 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



:)()1 




FLOYD B. WILSON 



i R VNCIS D. GALLATIN 



EDWARD T< iWNi: 



syndicate in control of an entirely new form 
of cotton-gin. Mr. Wilson is largely interested 
in Mexican mines. He is President of the 
School of Philosophy and has lectured in many 
parts of the country on Metaphysics. He is 
author of a series of tour remarkable hooks 
in the "New Thought" philosophy, namely, 
"Paths to Power." "Man Limitless," 
'Through Silence to Realization." and "The 
Discovery of the Soul." He is the author of 
a novel. "Uphill." and a translator of a Span- 
ish hook. He has been given an LL.D. by 
Richmond College. 

Relinquishing a possibly brilliant diplo- 
matic career for the practice of law is why 
Francis D. Gallatin is now numbered among 
the members of New York City's bar. 

Mr. Gallatin was born in this city, Septem- 
ber 2, 1870. and is of Swiss and English ex- 
traction, the family being founded in America 
in 1780. His great-grandfather was Albert 
Gallatin, who was Secretary of the Treasury 
under Presidents Jefferson and Madison. 

He was prepared at Berkeley and Everson 
schools and then entered Columbia College, 
graduating in 1S!)1 with the degree of A.B. 
lie studied law in the offices of Hornblower, 
Byrne & Taylor and in the New York Law 
School, and then went abroad, becoming in 
1901, an attache of the American Embassy 
at Constantinople. After this service he made 
a tour of South America, visiting many of the 



Latin Republics. Returning to New V>rk 
in 1908, he took up the active practice of law 
anil has been deeply interested in the Prison 
Association and in the work of the criminal 
courts. Mr. Gallatin is a Knight Commander 
of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, a 
decoration he received from Pope Pius X. 
He is a member of the Delta Phi fraternity, 
the Columbia University and National Demo- 
cratic clubs of New York and the Oriental 
Club of Constantinople. 

In addition to being successful at the prac- 
tice of law. Edward Owings Towne. has 
written several successful plays. His comedy, 
"Other People's Money," has kept the 
boards for 1!) years, he tells me. 

He was born in Iowa and received his edu- 
cation at the Iowa Central University, gradu- 
ting when only eighteen years of age. He was 
admitted to the bar in Chicago, and started 
practice at the age of twenty-one years. When 
but twenty-six years old he was candidate 
for Superior Court Judge, and, in his own lan- 
guage, "was beaten so badly, he has never 
since ran for office." 

Mr. Towne was one of the attorneys in (he 
famous Debs Railroad Conspiracy case in 
Chicago, and appeared in other celebrated 
cases. He came to New York City in 1903. 
He was leading counsel for the defense in the 
Sheib bath-tub murder case. 

Mi-. Towne was organizer and executive 



302 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



chairman of the famous Waldorf-Astoria 
Peace Banquet. He is a member of the 
Iowa Society of New York and the Liberal 
Culture. Fortnightly and American Drama- 
tists' clubs. He is also founder and president 
of the Theatregoers' Club of America. 

The Middle West contributed another suc- 
cessful lawyer to the bar of New York City, 
when Herman .1. Witte relinquished practice 
in Ohio and located in the metropolis. He 
was born in Cincinnati. September 1!>. 1860, 



and after 



thorough schooling in the public 




HERMAN 



schools in the city of his birth he entered the 
I Diversity of St. Loins, from which he grad- 
uated with honors. He was for several years 
connected with the municipal government of 
Cincinnati and was admitted to practice by 
the Supreme Court in 181)?. Since locating 
in New \ ork City he has acquired a large 
practice and enjoys the confidence and re- 
spect of all with whom he conies in contact. 

The Delafield family is one of the most 
distinguished in New York, dating from 
Revolutionary days. Lewis Delafield was 
born in this city. 1863, studied at St. Paul's 
School, was graduated at Harvard University, 



and secured a degree of LL.B. from Columbia 
Law School in 1884. 'Sir. Delafield has been 
in active practice since his admission, and. as 
a member of the New York City Bar Associa- 
tion, has served on all its committees, has been 
chairman of several committees and chair- 
man of the Executive Committee of the New 
York State Bar Association. Mr. Delafield 
was a member of the Executive Committee 
of the Committee of Seventy in 181)4. Secre- 
tary of the Rapid Transit Board of New York 
City. 1895-99, and was nominated in UXMi for 
Justice of tlu' Supreme Court. He is a mem- 
ber of the Union Club and of the Century 
Association. 

The District Attorney's office has sent out 
many capable jury lawyers, among whom I 
rank highly John E. Mclntyre, who served 
as an assistant under District Attorneys De 
Lancy Nicoll and John R. Fellows. During 
that time. Mr. Mclntyre prosecuted 614 
murder and manslaughter cases, out of which 
number he secured 580 convictions of various 
kinds. Three months of this eventful term 
(extending from November. 1894, to January, 
IS!).")), are known to this day as "the Bloody 
Assize," because 44 persons were tried for 
murder in New York County and every one 
was convicted. Among important cases prose- 
cuted by Mr. Mclntyre were those of Burton 
C. Webster. Dr. Meyer, Edward Caesar, Marie 
Barbari, David Hannigan, Daniel McGrath 
and Henry Wise. At the end of his public 
service. Mr. Mclntyre was retained by several 
Irish societies to go to England and appear 
in behalf of Edward Ivory, charged with an 
attempt to dynamite the Houses of Parlia- 
ment. Associated with him were several dis- 
tinguished English lawyers: a verdict of ae- 
quital was secured. Since then he has en- 
gaged in general practice, his most recent case 
of importance being the defense of Capt. 
Peter C. Haines, charged with murder. Mr. 
Mclntyre was born in New York. January. 
1855, educated at the College of St. Francis 
Xavier and the University of the City of New 
York. He belongs to many clubs. 

Recently appointed general solicitor of the 
New York State Brewers' Association and the 
Lager Beer Brewers' Board of Trade of New 
York and vicinity* William II. Hirsh brings 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



303 




.11 HIN I McINTYRE 



Wll MAM II lllliSH 



li.W'll) M. NEUBERGEH 



to his new offices ;i complete knowledge of 
every phase of law and precedent that is of 
invaluable aid in looking after legislative mat- 
ters and protecting a large amount of invested 
capita] for his clients. lie was born in New 
York City, July 8, 1874. and later graduating; 
from the public schools in 1889, entered the 
College of the City of New York, from which 
he graduated A.B. in 1N!)4. One year later 
he obtained the A.M. degree from the School 
of Political Science of Columbia University 
and in 1897 graduated LL.B. from the Law 
School of the same institution. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar one year previous to gradua- 
tion and from 1896 to 1897 studied for the 
degree of Ph.D.. taking up such subjects as 
historical political economy, constitutional his- 
tory of the I nited States, comparative con- 
stitutional law of United States and Europe 
administrative law. Roman law, law of Muni- 
cipal corporations, law of taxation. Consti- 
tutional law, international law and Mediaeval 
and Ecclesiastical history. During his studies 
in the School of Political Science lie also took 
up a special seminarium work in history and 
administrative law and the police power 
vested in the various states. He was ap- 
pointed Inspector of Schools by Mayor Van 
Wyck, becoming Chairman of the Thirteenth 
District Board and retained the position dur- 
ing Mr. Van Wyck's term of office. He is 
a member of the Association of the Par of the 
City of New York, the Manhattan Club 



and other social organizations and is a 
member of the firm of Ilirsh & Ehrhorn. 

In becoming a lawyer, David M. Neuberger 
consummated a determination formed while 
employed in the office of A. Oakley Hall, one 
time Mayor of New York City; his service 
with the ex-Mayor engendering an inclination 
tor the legal profession to the exclusion of 
everything else. He was born here April f. 
1864, and educated in the public schools; his 
legal training being obtained at the Paw 
School of New York University and in the 
office of Dittenhoefer & Etunkel, where he 
remained until his admission to the liar. He 
has been successful from the commencement 
of his professional career and has been counsel 
in many important cases, both civil and crim- 
inal and in many cases of public interest. 
He also represents a great many corporations 
and is connected with several companies as 
director or officer. 

Mr. Neuberger's father. Jacob Neuberger 
emigrated to this country from the Rhine 
Province in Germany, in 1849, and was a 
client and close friend of Abraham Lincoln. 
His mother. Rosalie Neuberger, was born in 
Denmark and coming to America when very 
young became one of the foremost women of 
her time. In politics. Mr. Neuberger has 
always been an independent Democrat. He 
is interested in charitable work and is con- 
nected with many organizations in that line. 
He numbers many prominent men among 



304 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



his clientele. He is a writer of much force 
and is a frequent contributor to various publi- 
cations. Mr. Neuberger is a member of 
the American Economic Society, the 
American Civic Alliance, the County Law- 
yers' Association, the Alumni of Xew York 
University and several social organizations. 

The first mayor of Long Island City was 
the father of Edward W. Ditmars, who was 
born at Astoria in 1803. Educated at the 
Columbia Law School for the practice of his 
profession, Edward Ditmars received the de- 
gree of LL.B. and became associated with 
his uncles. J. II. and S. Riker. This law 
firm will probably be remembered by the old 
New Yorkers as attorneys in the famous 
Sarah Burr will case. Since the dissolution 
of that firm Mr. Ditmars has practiced in- 
dependently. He is attorney for the Rich- 
mond Kaolin Co. and for the Astoria Heights 
Land Co.; a member of the Holland Society 
and the Sons of the American Revolution. In 
politics, lie is actively a Democrat. 

In 1884, Morris Cukor, a young Hungarian 
of 1(>, desiring to live in a country of unlimited 
opportunities and free institutions, landed in 
this city and entered the New York University 
Law School. He had previously secured a 
fair education at the Royal College of Kallo, 
in his native land, and had taken several gold 
medals for scholarship. Here, he won the 
Elliot E. Shepard scholarship at the New 



York University. Entering the law office of 
Justice Joseph E. Newburger, he was ad- 
mitted to the bar and began practice. His 
fondness for the law was marked. He acted 
as counsel to Count Ladislaus Szechenyi in 
ante-nuptial negotiations preceding the 
Count's marriage to Miss Gladys Vanderbilt; 
was legal advisor to Aurel Batonyi; is gen- 
era] counsel to the Austro-Hungarian Consul- 
General in this city and to the United Hunga- 
rian Reform churches in America, consisting 
of 30 congregations in various parts of the 
country. He represents the Hungarian-Ameri- 
can Bank of New York, also the Royal Hun- 
garian Government, the Commercial Bank 
and the Hungarian Central Credit Bank, of 
Budapest, two of the largest institutions on 
the continent. He is an active worker in 
many charitable associations. Is a Demo- 
crat and one of the secretaries of Tammany 
Hall. 

John Henry Iselin was born in New York 
City, September, LS74; he secured his early 
education abroad at Vevey and Paris. Re- 
turning to New York, lie prepared for college 
at the Berkeley School; took a degree at Har- 
vard. 1890, and finished a law course at Co- 
lumbia Law School in IS!)!). He was a mem- 
ber of the Delta Phi fraternity. He began 
his active career in the law office of the late 
Albert Stickney in 1897. He has been an 
active worker in politics as an Independent 
Republican. He served as Assistant Dis- 




EDWARD W. DITMARS 



MORRIS.CC Ivor,' 



JiiHN H. ISELIN 



TIIK BOOK of NEW YORK 



305 




CIIAKUClS 1' 1 1 A I > I ' I I -i I i:i!KV 



GEORGE W Mi (RGAN 



i;ii;in ai.u II. sciieni'k 



trict Attorney of New York County, 1902- 
11)00, after which he became head of the pres- 
ent law firm of Iselin & Delafield in 1900. 
Mr. Iselin belongs to the Knickerbocker, 
University, City, Republican, Down Town 
and Harvard clubs; he is a member of the 
American Museum of Natural History, Met- 
ropolitan Museum of Art and New York 
Zoological Society. 

From Albany, Charles Thaddeus Terry 
came to New York City about 1893 to make 
a place for himself in the legal profession. He 
was then twenty-six years of age and had 
taken degrees at Williams College, the Colum- 
bia Law School and had studied at the Uni- 
versity of Berlin. He began practice as junior 
partner in an established firm, but after six 
years established an office of his own. He 
was a prize lecturer at Columbia Law School. 
1,N!):5 '95, and a regular lecturer from 1896 to 
1901, since which time he has been Professor 
of Law at the University. He is believed to 
be the best-informed man on laws relating to 
automobiles and the liabilities of their owners. 
He was appointed by Governor Higgins Com- 
missioner of N. Y. State on uniformity of laws 
in the United States. He is a Phi Beta Kappa, 
an ex-president of the National Council of the 
Phi Delta Phi fraternity and a member of the 
Uni versify Club. 

New Jersey has supplied the metropolis 
with many excellent citizens. Especially is 
this trui' in the profession of law. Mr. George 



W. Morgan, of Breed, Abbott & Morgan, 
was born at East Orange, \. J., in 1875. He 
went to Ohio for his college degree, taking it 

it O r^ 

at Oberlin College in 1897. Then he attended 
Columbia Law School for three years and was 
graduated LL.B. in 1900. He served as 
deputy assistant district attorney of New 
^ ork county for two years, having especial 
charge of police prosecutions. After serving 
three years as State Superintendent of Elec- 
tions, lie resigned to devote his time to practice. 
He has taken an active part in Republican 
politics. Mr. Morgan is fond of the open 
air and spends much time in the Summer at 
his farm near Sutl'ern, N. Y. His grand- 
father. John Morgan, was a professor at 
Oberlin College for 50 years and the father 
and mother of the subject of this sketch were 
both graduates of that institution. Mr. Mor- 
gan is a member of the American, State. City 
ami County Bar Associations, the Academy 
of Political Science, the University and Re- 
publican Clubs and the Ohio Society. 

Among the lawyers who have attained 
success through individual effort, Reginald II. 
Schenck is deserving of mention. He was 
born in New York City July 20, 1878, and 
comes of old Holland ancestry. His father 
was a prominent broker whose failure made 
it necessary for Mr. Schenck to leave school. 
He secured employment in the circulation de- 
partment of an afternoon paper and at the 
same time attended the night class of the 



306 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



New York Law School, from which he ob- 
tained the degree of LL.B., and was admitted 
to the bar in 1901. He afterwards matri- 
culated at the New York University Law 
School but did not complete the course. 
returning to the New York Law School 
for the LL.M. degree winch was conferred 
upon him in 1904. Mr. Schenck was at one 
time a member of the legal firm of Cheney. 
Schenck & Stockell, which included O. II. 
Cheney, formerly Superintendent of Banks, 
and now vice-president of the Pacific Hank. 




ill VRLES 1' M COLE 

Charles D'Urban Morris Cole was born 
in West Forty-third Street. New York 
City, in which city he was raised and has 
lived practically ever since. He comes of 
old Plymouth stock, was fitted for college at 
Cambridge, graduating from Harvard Univer- 
sity in l.SN.'J. He then studied law at Colum- 
bia, and took the Degree of Bachelor of Laws 
in 1N,S.>. and the same year was admitted to 
the bar in New York City. He early estab- 
lished himself as a specialist in corporation 
law. and devoted his efforts exclusively to 
that business until 1890, when he became 
associated with the American Telephone and 
Telegraph Company, of which Company he 
is now the attorney. 

During the twenty-three years of service 



with the Telephone Company he has seen it 
grow from a corporation with a capital of two 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars to its pres- 
ent proportions, has had much to do with 
the building of its system and the develop- 
ment of its plant, and has assisted in solving 
the many and complex problems which have 
arisen from time to time in connection with 
its growth. 

He is connected as a director and in other 
official capacities with several corporations, 
mostly telephone, has done much in civic 
work, and is widely and favorably known in 
business circles. 

He is a prominent churchman, a democrat 
of the conservative Cleveland school, and is a 
member of numerous metropolitan clubs. 

Cornell University has furnished an un- 
usual number of members of the bar in this 
city. Among them is Captain Charles Her- 
bert Stoddard, horn at Glens Falls. New York, 
1869, and educated at the Glens Falls Academy, 
lie then went to Cornell University, where 
he took the degree of H.L.. also leading in 
military science; was Colonel of the Cadet 
Corps, and Woodford prize orator. His de- 
gree in law was acquired at the New York 
University, and he was admitted to the bar in 
the same year. He has successfully practiced 
in this city since that time. He was an en- 
thusiastic member of the National Guard 
from 1SS7 to IS!)!); was second lieutenant, 
22nd Regiment, 1N!).'3: first lieutenant. 1894; 
Captain, 71st Regiment, IN!)? to '99; Captain. 
71st Regiment Infantry, N. Y. Volunteers, 
during the Spanish-American War; private. 
sergeant, first sergeant, 29th Infantry. U. S. Y.. 
campaigns in Luzon, Marinduque, Masbate, 
Ticao. Burias and Samar. Philippine Islands. 
1899-1901. Mr. Stoddard is a member of the 
Naval and Military Order of the Spanish- 
American War. the Delta Phi fraternity. 
Cornell and St. Elmo clubs and has been 
president and director of the Builders Con- 
struction Co. since 1905. He is prominent in 
Masonic bodies. 

Unquestionably the builder of his own for- 
tune. Robert M. Moore has great cause for 
self-congratulation, for. without the advan- 
tages of a collegiate career, he has become 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



30" 



one of the recognized leaders at the criminal 
bar of New York City. He was born in 
Morrisburg, Canada. July .'>. 1N(>7, and was 
educated in the public and high schools of 
Watertown, X. , » . After leaving school. 
he studied law with Judge Watson M. Rogers, 
of Watertown, X. Y.. and was admitted to 
the bar in L899. lie commenced practice in 
Maloiie. X. ^ .. I>nt shortly afterwards re- 
moved to this city. The first case to bring him 
prominence was his defense of Dr. Samuel K. 
Kennedy, charged with the murder of Dolly 
Reynolds. Kennedy was tried three times, 
the first time defended by another lawyer, 
he was convicted. Mr. Moore took the case 



entire time to theatrical work and in this line 
he has been highly successful. He acted as 
attorney For Edna Goodrich in her suit for 
divorce from Nat. C. Goodwin and also was 
attorney for Mrs. Burke-Roche and Ltilu 
Glaser in similar proceedings. lie is not 
only prominently identified with the pro- 
fession in a legal way, hut he is financially in- 
terested in ahoul nineteen theatrical produc- 
tions. Mr. Roth has a distinguished ancestry. 
Ills father was a General under the famous 
Kossuth in the Revolution of 1848 while his 
uncle was a member of the Hungarian parlia- 
ment and his eldest In-other is counsel to the 
crown of Hungary. His father was also 




Ell IBERT M. MOOR! 



HERMAN I. ROTH 



w BERN \l:[> V VCS1 



on an appeal and the second trial resulted in 
a disagreement by the jury. The third trial 
resulted in acquittal. lie was also one of the 
defending counsel in the A. J. Patrick case 
and later in that of two "iris charged with at- 
tempting to kill a millionaire. 

An attorney who figures prominently in 
many of the celebrated cases in the dramatic 
profession, is Herman L. Roth. He was horn 
in Budapest. Hungary, and was educated at 
the Budapest Royal Academy also graduating 
from Heidelburg University. Upon coming 
to Xew York City he entered the New York 
University Law School from which he grad- 
uated A.B. and was admitted to the bar in 
1893. He at once started a general practice, 
and eventually drifted into criminal work. 
Several years ago he decided to devote his 



Grand Master of the Masonic fraternity in 
his native country. Mr. Roth is a member 
of the National Democratic Club, Progress 
Club. Lawyers' Club, County Bar Association. 
Alumni Xew York University and of the 
Masons. Knights of Pvthias, Odd Fellows 
and Elks. 

A few of the rich men of this city have used 
their wealth to admirable advantage and gen- 
eral public appreciation in developing useful 
sports, such as automobile races, motor boat 
contests ami aviation. In the front rank of 
this interesting and valuable membership in 
our community is William Barnard Vause, 
prominently identified with the original con- 
ception of the Vanderbilt Cup Races. He is 
a scholar as well as financier, being a graduate 
of Columbia University and the Xew York 



.SOS 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Law School. He was born and raised in 
this city and most of his large financial in- 
terests are centered here. Mr. Vau'se is fond 
of hunting and is an enthusiastic motorist. 
He belongs to the Constitution and Long- 
Island Automobile clubs and withal is actively 
and successfully engaged in the practice of law. 

In the legislative fight, still fresh in our 
memories, over the Anti-Racetrack Bill, 
Charles Frederick Murphy was in his element 
and played an important part. Of the family, 
three of the preceding generation fought in the 
Civil War. Charles Murphy's father lost an 
arm. one uncle was killed at Gettysburg and 
another was seriously wounded. Still an- 
other, of non-combatant age in Civil War 
times, accompanied Hobson in his venture 




CHARLES I MURPHY 

into Santiago harbor. Born at Norwood, St. 
Lawrence County, Charles F. Murphy was 
educated at Union College and at the New 
York Law School. lie has since been engaged 
in genera] practice with marked success. Five 
times Mr. Murphy has been elected to the 
Assembly from the Tenth District of Kings 
County. During that time, for three years, 
he was chairman of the Codes Committee. 
He was the father of the Livingston St. Bill 
which saved a million and a half to his con- 
stituents. 



Julien T. Davies, Jr. is a member of one of 
the leading law firms at the New York Bar, 
and at the present time engaged in an active 
general practice of which the conduct of liti- 
gations, both before the Trial and Appellate 
Courts, is a considerable part. Some of his 
principal interests outside of his profession 
are gunning, fishing, boating and motoring. 
He rinds some time to devote to the good roads 
movement. 

Mr. Davies was born in New York City, 
February 20, 1870. He was educated at 
St. Paul's School. Concord, X. II., and then 
entered Columbia University, graduating A.B. 
in 1891. He spent two years at the Harvard 
Law School, leaving there in 1893 to enter 
the office of Evarts, Choate & Beaman, and 
was admitted to the bar one year later. He 
is now a member of the firm of Davies, Auer- 
bach, Cornell & Barry. 

Mr. Davies was connected with the Na- 
tional Guard from ISSSto 1906, during which 
time lie served in the 7th Regiment. Troop 
and Squadron A, and the 1 "2th Regiment. 
His last term of service was from 1902 to 
1 !)()(> as 1st Lieutenant of Company K, 12th 
Regiment Infantry, N. G. N. Y. lie is 
president of the Bancroft Really Company, 
also of the Summerfield Gun Club, a North 
Carolina shooting club, and is one of the 
Executive Committee of the Suffolk County 
Taxpayers' Good Roads Association. He is 
a member of the New York County Lawyers' 
Association, the Bar Associations of the City 
and State, Society of Colonial Wars, Sons 
of the Revolution, St. David's Society and the 
Down Town Association. The Recess, Union, 
University and the New York Yacht clubs. 

Enjoying the confidence of his constituents, 
whom he ably represents, Aaron J. Levy, has 
been elected to the State Assembly for five 
successive terms, and was chairman of the 
most important legislative committee, namely, 
the Committee on the Judiciary, in the last 
Assembly. 

Mr. Levy was born in New York City. July 
4. 1881. lie attended the public schools, the 
evening high schools. Cooper Union School of 
Science and the New York University. 

Since admission to the bar he has tried many 
important civil and criminal cases and acted 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



309 




AAHllN J. Li;VY 



WILLIAM L. HANSOM 



\\ I I.I 1 11 GHB1 B In IBBS 



as counsel for several prominent realty cor- 
porations. He has always been interested in 
all social and political reform movements on 
the lower East Side, and prior to his election 
to the Legislature frequently went before 
that body in behalf of good government, ballot 
reform, more small parks and improvement 
in tenement house conditions. 

Mr. Levy is a Mason, a member of the 
Council of Princes of Jerusalem, the Chapter 
of Hose Croix, the Consistory and the Mystic 
Shrine, the John F. Ahearn Association, 
Tammany Hall General Committee Fourth 
Assembly District, Educational Alliance, Beth 
Israel Hospital, United Hebrew Charities, 
Talmud Torah, Hebrew Immigrant Associa- 
tion, the Veritas Association, the Society of 
Medical-Legal Jurisprudence and the Young 
Men's Democratic, Avon, New Era, Kiswa and 
Professional Men's clubs. 

Another member of the newspaper profes- 
sion who was drafted into legal Work is 
William L. Ransom, who from 1902 to 1905 
was editor of the Chautauqua Assembly Daily 
Herald. Mr. Ransom was born in Harmony 
Township, Chautauqua County, N. Y., June 
24, 1883, and attended the Jamestown, N. Y., 
High School in 18!)!) and Cornell University 
L.iw School in 1905. After admission to the 
bar he became a member of the firm of Ran- 
som & Cawcroft, Jamestown, X. Y., and after 
a period of great activity in civic work there, 
he removed to New York City. Since his 
residence in the metropolis he has been attor- 



ney for New Jersey affiliated commercial and 
commuters' organizations in proceedings be- 
fore the Interstate Commerce Commission 
and for Westchester County Municipalities 
and commercial bodies before the New York 
Public Service Commission. He is a member 
of the New York State Bar Association. Bar 
Association of the City of New York, Chau- 
tauqua County Society of New York and the 
Alabama Society of New York, and is now 
with the legal department of the Public Service 
Commission. 

Another metropolitan lawyer who entered his 
profession by the gateway of journalism is 
Willoughhv Barrett Dobbs, who was born in 
Portsmouth. Va.. in the first year of the Civil 
War. His parents removed to Richmond. 
Ky., in 1S(>(>. then to Lexington, Ky., in 1808, 
and to Bowling Green, Ky., in 1874. In these 
places he attended private and public schools. 
Thence he entered Bethel College, Russel- 
ville. Ky., where he was graduated in 1880. 
For three years he taught district school and 
read law at the same time, attaining admission 
to the bar of Kentucky in 1888. He practiced 
law and edited newspapers until 1892, dividing 
his time between the two professions of law 
and journalism. He wrote slashing editorials 
at night for the Bowling Green Democrat, 
Daily Gazette and Daily Times and gave his 
hours of daylight to practice in the courts. In 
1886 he became the proprietor of the Allen 
Sentinel, Scottsville, Ky.. and livened the com- 
munity in politics. He transferred his aetivi- 



:?!(» 



THE HOOK oj NEW YORK 



tit's to Washington, I). C, in 1892, when he 
was called three years later to accept office 
as chief examiner in the Police Department of 
New York under Commissioner Theodore 
Roosevelt. This tenure was of brief duration 
because the office was abolished by the charter 
of 1898. The only other political office that 
Mr. Dobbs has ever held was that of Assembly- 
man in 1907 for the 32nd New York County 
District. 

Born and educated in the middle west. 
Rollin M. Morgan was quick to recognize 
the superior advantages of New York City 
and came here early in life. The place of his 
nativity was Ohio, where he was born July 
'2. 1857, and his education was received in 
the public schools, the Urbana University, 
the Ohio State University and the Columbia 
College Law School, from which he graduated 
LL.B. Since admission to the bar he has 
been in active practice and has filled many 
positions of trust. lie was compiler and 
editor of the building laws of New \ ork and 
of Municipal Ordinances. He served as 
a member of the Board of Aldermen 1SSS- 
!>1 and afterwards as Assistant Corporation 
Counsel. lie was also counsel to tin- New 
York Building Code Commission and to 
the Municipal Assembly in 1898. From 
1898 to 1901 he was counsel to the New 
York Board of Education. Mr. Morgan is 
now a member of the law firm of Morgan & 
Mitchell; secretary-treasurer and director of 
the Ilollai' Safe and Lock Company, and pres- 
ident of the Kokosing Land Company. He 
is a member of the Bar Association of the City 
of New York, the New York State Bar Asso- 
ciation, the Masonic fraternity. Friendly Order 
of St. Patrick and the Ohio. Iowa and St. 
David's societies. His clubs are the Manhat- 
tan. Democratic and New York Athletic. 

A young member of the New York Bar who 
has been more than ordinarily successful, is 
( ruernsey R. Jewett. 

Mr. Jewett was born at Moravia. N. Y.. 
October 10. 1876, and after a high school 
course entered Cornell University, where he 
took a special course in arts and law and 
graduated in IS!)!). 

After leaving college he was secretary to 
the Attorney-General of the Stale and during 



this period took up the study of law and also 
attended the Albany Law School. 

Shortly after his admission to the bar he 
removed to New York City and has been asso- 
ciated with Randolph Parmly and Frederick 
E. Kessinger. 

Mr. Jewett is a director in the Biograph 
Company, the A. Z. Company, builders of 
automobiles, the A. & M. Robin Company, 
the Island Cities Realty Company of New 
York City and is secretary of the Rome (N. Y.) 
Locomotive and Machine Works. 

Mr. Jewett is a member of the Chi Psi 
fraternity but has no club affiliations. 

A college professorship possesses many al- 
luring features to voung men after graduation 
and it was through that channel that Francis 
X. Carmody, now a Wall Street lawyer, 
entered his present profession. He was born 
at Watervliet, Michigan, in 1871, and edu- 
cated at the University of Michigan and Notre 
Dame University, receiving a degree in IN!)!). 
He subsequently took law courses at the New 
York Law School and Brooklyn Law School. 
He began his active career as head of the de- 
partment of oratory at University of Notre 
Dame. Indiana, and held this position for 
three years, coming to Brooklyn in 1 900, as 
I lie head of a similar department in the Poly- 
technic Institute. He was also Ilarkness 
Instructor in pulpit oratory at the Union 
Theological Seminary. He has occupied the 
chair of Professor of Constitutional Law and 
of the New York Code at the Brooklyn Law- 
School. 

The Dominion of Canada has gone so far 
in reciprocity as to send us an excellent law- 
yer in the person of M. Casewell Heine, born 
at Ottawa. September, 1876, and educated at 
McGill University, Montreal. He took a 
special course in Roman law at Edinburgh 
and graduated at the New York Law School. 
When admitted to the bar in 1901, he entered 
the office of J. Arthur Hilton, where he re- 
mained for three years and then began prac- 
tice individually. A study of political history 
and ancient law, combined with the love of 
the excitement of debate and trial work, was 
the principal influence that induced him to 
adopt his profession. He has specialized in 
real estate and is counsel for various indus- 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



;ii 



trial ;iml mining companies. He has been 
influential in the development of the zinc 
industry of Tennessee. While climbing the 
Alps between Forclaz and Chamounix in 
May, IS!)!), Mr. Heine encountered ;i voung 
German student crazed from exposure and 
with much difficulty brought him down to 
Argentiere, saving his life. The sufferer h;i<l 
to be carried most of the distance. Mr. Heine 
is a Republican; belongs to the Delta Upsilon 
fraternity; is a Mason and a member of sev- 
eral clubs. 

Toledo. Ohio, the former home of "Petro- 
leum Y. Nasby," sent to New ^ ork by way 
of Yale University, George Davis Zahm, who 



To be honored by two terms of fourteen 
years each upon the Supreme bench of the 
Stale of New York, speaks very highly for the 
legal ability and judicial integrity of any man. 
Such tribute has been paid to Henry Bischoff, 
born in this city in 1852, educated at the public 

schools and Columbia Law Scl I. lie was 

admitted to the bar in 1S7:5 and engaged in 
private practice until elected Judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas in 1890. During 
that tune, he was senior member of the bank- 
ing firm of Bischoff & Co. In lN!)(i. he was 
elected, as a Democrat. Supreme Court Jus- 
tice and recently reelected. He is devoted to 
music as well as the law. a regular attendant 




CASEWELL HEINE 



1 K VNCIS X. (' 1KMH1IV 



Prol GEI IRGE 1' Z \HM 



now occupies a prominent position as an in- 
structor in the law. He was born in the city 
the Maumee River in 1876. Centennial 



on 



year! After thorough preparation, he was 
graduated at Yale magna emu /untie, l!)l)(). 
During his course in law. he won the Edward 
Thompson and the Jewell prizes. He opened 
a law office in Syracuse in 1901, but was called 
to New Haven to act as an instructor in law 
at Yale. and. since May. 1904, has been As- 
sistant Professor of Law at that University. 
He is also Assistant Professor of Law at the 
St. Lawrence University, but has been prac- 
ticing his profession in this city while acting as 
a lecturer on law. lie is a member of the 
Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 
32d degree Mason, an Elk and belongs to the 
Society of the Onondagas. 



at the opera, a member of the Arion, Beethoven 
and Liederkranz musical societies. He be- 
longs to the Manhattan, Lotos and National 
Democratic clubs. 

I'he sport of golf appeal's to have more 
enthusiasts in the legal profession than any 
other. Although Edward J. Welsh has suc- 
ceeded in his profession, he is a keen yachts- 
man and when not upon the water is to be 
found upon the golf field during leisure hours. 
He was born at Easton, N. Y.. 1872, and 
took a law course at Union University where 
he was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity. 
Coming to the metropolis, he entered the law 
office of Birdseye, Cloyd & Bayliss, where he 
remained ten years. leaving to form the firm 
of Welsh. Heine & Fall. This latter partner- 



312 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



ship was recently dissolved and Mr. Welsh 
now practices independently. lie assisted ( lar- 
ence Birdseye in compiling "Birdseye's Re- 
vised Statutes," a work used universally in 
New York state. Although his residence i^ in 
New York. Mr. Welsh has a country place in 
Noroton, Conn., where at the nearby Weeburn 
golf links he enjoys his favorite pastime. 

Attracted by the greater possibilities for a 
career in his chosen calling. Albert Rathbone 
came to New York City from Albany and the 
success following his change of localities shows 
that his judgment was right. 

Mr. Rathbone was born in Albany. N. Y., 
July 27, 1868, and was educated at Albany 
Academy and was a member of the Class of '88 
at Williams College. He afterwards took a 
special course at Union University from which 
he received the degree of LL.B. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1881 and practiced alone 
until 1892, when he became a member of the 
firm of Tracey, Cooper & Rathbone. He 
came to New York in 1900 and in 1901 was 
admitted to partnership in the firm of Butler, 
Notman, Joline & Mynderse. This firm was 
dissolved December 31. 1004. when the pres- 
ent firm of Joline. Larkin & Rathbone was 
organized. 

Mr. Rathbone is a member of the Bar Asso- 
ciation, the Loyal Legion, Alpha Delta Phi 
and the following clubs; Racquet, Metropoli- 
tan. Down Town, Riding and Driving, Ards- 
ley. Sleepy Hollow Country, Rumson Country 
and the Automobile Club of America. 

George C. Beach is another member of the 
younger bar who is deserving of mention. 
He was born November 10, 1877, at Watkins, 
N. Y., the son of Daniel and Angelica Church 
(Magee) Beach, anil was educated at the 
Watkins High School and St. Raul's School, 
Concord, N. II. He graduated B.L. from 
Hobart College. Geneva, N. Y.. in 1808 and 
LL.B. from Cornell University Law School 
in 1901. Mr. Beach is a member of the Bar 
Association of the City of New York, the 
Sigma Phi Society and the St. Nicholas, Cor- 
nell University, City, Midday, Apawamis and 
West Side Tennis clubs. 



A successful lawyer and devoted to yachting, 
Lorenzo 1). Armstrong frequently relieves 
his legal cares by short cruises in his schooner 
yacht, "Grampus." 

Mr. Armstrong was born in New Haven, 
Conn., December 21, 1875, and after grad- 
uating from Yale University with the B.A. 
degree entered the New York Law School, 
finishing LL.B. 

After his admission to the bar he entered 
active practice and is now a member of the 
firm of Garvan »S; Armstrong. 

Mr. Armstrong is director and second vice- 
president of the Fajardo Sugar Company, and 
a director in the New Amsterdam Casualty 
Company and the Electric Cable Company. 

He is a member of the Greenwich County. 
New York Yacht. Tiedean Harbor Yacht, 
University and Yale clubs. 

After a residence in Havana, during which 
he acted as counsel for the Military Gover- 
nor of Cuba, Ernest L. Conant returned to New 
York City in 1906 and has already become a 
successful practitioner here. 

He was born in Dudley. Mass., September 
11, 18.59, and was educated at Harvard Col- 
lege, graduating A.R. in 1884; Johns Hopkins 
University and Maryland Law School. 1884 
to 1880. and graduated from Harvard in 1889 
with the A.M. and LL.B. degrees. 

He acted as English instructor at Harvard 
and lecturer on International Law at the same 
institution. 

He is a director of the American Type 
Founders Company, a member of New York 
State Bar Association and the Association of 
the Bar of the City of New York. His clubs 
arc the University, Harvard and City. 

From the beginning of his legal career. Wil- 
liam A. Redding has been deeply interested in 
the study of the law as applied to patents and 
in this connection has figured as general 
counsel for industrial firms in many litigations 
where the rights of patentee or manufacturer 
were involved. 

Mr. Redding was born in Philadelphia, No- 
vember 12. 18.50, and was admitted to the bar, 
October 11, 1873. Not satisfied with his 
legal equipment, Mr. Redding entered the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



313 




WILLIAM A. REDDING 



WILLIAM M. HOES 



MICHAEL J. MULQUEEN 



Law School of the University of Pennsylvania 
and graduated therefrom in 1876 with the 
degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then or- 
ganized the firm of Redding, Jones & Carson, 
was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature, 
and, while very successful in his native state, 
came to New York in 1887 and is senior mem- 
ber of the firm of Redding. Greeley & Austin. 
Mr. Redding is a member of the Five 
o'clock Club and Art Club of Philadelphia 
and of the Union League Club, of Engineers' 
Club, Machinery Club and Bar Association 
of New York City. 

One of the wondershops of the metropolis 
is the office of the Public Administrator of 
the County of New York. Many a sensa- 
tional novel is hidden in its file-cases. The 
present incumbent of this highly important 
position is William M. Hoes, born in Kinder- 
hook, N. Y., June li), 184<». lie prepared at 
the academy of his native town, took his de- 
gree at Williams College and was admitted 
to the bar in 1865. Since that time he has 
devoted himself chiefly to civil practice. Mr. 
Hoes is a Democrat, a member of the Bar 
Association of Manhattan, prominent in the 
Holland Society and is Past Master of my 
lodge. Kane, 454, F. and A. M. In college, 
he belonged to the Kappa Alpha fraternity. 
His administration of the vast litigation forced 
upon the county by neglect of proper provis- 
ion For death by citizens of this island has been 
so notably efficient that Mr. Hoes has been 
retained in office many years, through varying 
municipal governments. 



One of the most able addresses made at the 
reception of Cardinal Farley, upon his return 
from Rome, was by Michael J. Mulqueen, 
who. as president of the Catholic Club, figured 
hugely in the exercises at the Hippodrome and 
also presided at the clubs' greeting to the 
Cardinal, on which occasion Governor Dix 
and Mayor Gaynor made addresses. 

He was born in New York City and edu- 
cated in the public schools, at Cooper In- 
stitute and at the Columbia Law School. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1883 ami for many 
years was a member of the legal firm of Mul- 
queen & Mulqueen, but now practices alone. 
He is a Democrat in politics and was a mem- 
ber of the Constitutional Convention in 1N!)4. 
Mr. Mulqueen is a life-long member of the 
Catholic Church and is one of the managers 
of the Catholic Protectory. He is also a mem- 
ber of the Manhattan. Hardware. Democratic, 
Catholic and the Foxhills Golf clubs. 

A man in political life who incurs the dis- 
favor of a party boss is sometimes unsuccessful 
for renomination at the right lime namely 
when a landslide is imminent and the defeat 
of his successful party rival takes place. Such 
is the experience of Alvah W. Burlinganie. Jr., 
a lawyer of this city, who after serving the 
people of the Eighth Senatorial District and 
being endorsed by most of his neighbors was 
imperatively '"turned down" for renomination 
at the command of Naval Officer Kracke and 
Postmaster Voorhies, with the result that 
Cant. Fahnestock, named in his stead was 



314 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



overwhelmingly defeated in a strong Republi- 
can district, November, 1910. While at Albany, 
Mr. Burlingame made a senatorial record 
that received the approval of the New York 
Bar Association, especially in legislation for 
the prevention of "graft" in condemnation pro- 
ceedings. He was largely instrumental in 
the reduction of the price of gas to 80 cents; 
he introduced hills for simplying the civil 
code; a hill prohibiting the sale of liquors to 
tubercular patients m hospitals; another amend- 
ing the Rapid Transit Act and two hills mak- 
ing the crimes of "cadets" punishable as 
misdemeanors. 

Pennsylvania contributes another lawyer to 
New York in the person of Harry B. Brad- 
bury, born at Athens of that state in 1863. 
In early life, he was a machinist, telegraph 
operator and newspaperman; but at the age 
of thirty, he began the practice of law in this 
city. He is author of several hooks on legal 
subjects, including "Rules of Pleading," 
"Forms of Pleadings," "Practice and Form" 
and "Jurisdiction of the State and Federal 
Courts." In politics, Mr. Bradbury is a pro- 
gressive Republican. He is fond of hunting 
and fishing and belongs to an Adirondack 
mountain club. The Bradbury family came 
from Yorkshire. England in l(i:5(i. Harry B. 
Bradbury's paternal and maternal great- 
grandfathers fought in the Revolution. His 
father served as captain in the Civil War. 
raising a company by his own efforts. Mr. 
Bradbury's ancestors belonged to the family 



of that name so well known throughout Maine, 
of which the late Senator -lames W. Bradbury 
and William R. Bradbury, composer, were 
members. 

A clever young lawyer coming to us from 
New Jersey is Charles 1. Taylor, who was 
admitted to the bar in 1899, after completing 
a course of study at the Xew York Law 
School. Although he lives in East Orange, 
the place of his birth was Skillman, N. Y., and 
its date, 1S7.5. His affection for Princeton 
caused him to take his University course there, 
where he was graduated in I S!>7. Since his 
admission to the bar he has been an active 
member of Beardsley, Hemmens & Taylor. 

A Commission, the members of which 
rendered a valuable service to their fellow- 
citizens, investigated the Gas and Electrical 
systems of this citv a few years ago. 



One of its members was Ijeorge 15. Ague 



uis George P. \y 
born in Xew York city in 1868 and graduated 
from Princeton. 1891. He was sent several 
terms to the \. Y. Assembly; and. in 1906, 
was elected to the Senate. 

Eustace Conway, who is in the practice of 
law. is counsel for various lumber companies, 
including the Wholesale Lumber Dealers' 
Association in Xew York. He has also ren- 
dered most valuable service in the reorgani- 
zation of various large corporations, and 
represents various estates. 

Mr. Conway was educated at University 




Al.YAH W BUR! ING \MK, Jr. 



II \KI(Y H. BKAIHil l:\ 



t'H iRLES I. TAYLOR 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



315 




EUSTACE I'oNW \\ 



JAMES I! EL'S 



DAVID THi IRN I ' IN 



College, and at the Inner Temple, London. 
though born in Cincinnati in 1S.5!). He was 
admitted to the bar of New York in 1881, and 
is a member of the Bar Association and of the 
Century Club. He is one of the Commis- 
sioners of Appraisement of the Flatbush 
Avenue Subway in Brooklyn, 

Illinois contributed another lawyer in the 
person of James R. Ely. born in Chicago, 1859, 
and educated at Yale, where he was grad- 
uated in 1882, after which he studied for one 
year at Columbia. Law School. He then be- 
came a clerk in the office of Roger Foster, 
where he remained until admitted to the bar, 
January 1, 1886. Since that time he has 
been in general practice in this city. He be- 
longed to the old County Democracy, and 
later to its successor, the State Democracy, 
being a member of its executive committee. 
His first official appointment was that of 
United States District Attorney, in 1895, 
serving three years. He was a delegate to 
the Syracuse Convention of the National 
Democratic party and to the National Con- 
vention of the same at Indianapolis, 1896, 
where Palmer and Buckner were nominated 
for President and Vice-President on a Gold 
Standard ticket. He was a member of the 
Committee of One Hundred that led the move- 
ment in behalf of an independent judiciary, 
1898, and has been Assistant District Attor- 
ney ami active in local, state and national 
politics. He is a member of several clubs. 



Like many other successful men. David 
Thornton owes his start in life to an attentive 
study of the "Want Columns" of the news- 
papers. He was born in this city and edu- 
cated at the public schools. Imt early fore- 
seeing that he would have to make his own 
struggle for existence, he sought employment 
while attending school. An advertisement in 
the Sun caught his eve: it read "Boy wanted 
in a law office." He secured the job of 
errand boy and before his first month was 
completed began the study of his future pro- 
fession. He read Blackstone and other ele- 
mentary books at home, mastered the routine 
of office work and eventually became a law yer. 
It was a bitter up-hill struggle, the final step 
of which was admission to the liar. Activity, 
hope, earnestness and a desire to employ the 
best of his talents have been rewarded by 
success. The firm of Thornton & Earle gets 
its share of business. Mr Thornton is a 
Republican, a member of the Brooklyn Union 
League and the Congregational clubs. 

Cornell University and Columbia Law 
School contributed to the qualification of John 
T. Sackett tor the legal profession of this 
city. He was born in New York, October, 
isiit. graduated at Cornell. ISSti. and Colum- 
bia, 1888. He is a member of the law firm of 
Sackett & Lang; a Republican and an Epis- 
copalian. He is vice-president of the Borough 
Building Supply Co. He is a hard worker in 
the winter but finds his chief recreation in the 
summer at his 300-acre farm near South 



316 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



Amenia, Dutchess County, X. V. His clubs 
are the Beta Theta Pi and Church: he is a 
member of the New York County Lawyers' 
Association and the New York Law Institute. 
While in college Mr. Sackett was business 
manager of the Cornell Daily Sun. 

The metropolis has produced many suc- 
cessful lawyers, despite the drafts it has made 
upon the rest of the country. In this class is 
Edmund Lincoln Baylies, born on Manhattan 
Island. December, 1857, prepared for college at 
Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated in 
arts at Harvard, 1879, and at its Law School. 
1882. A supplementary course of instruction 
under the late Dr. Theodore W. Dwight was 
had at Columbia Law School. Mr. Baylies 
then made a trip 'round the world, traveling 
slowly and studying the peoples of different 
lands. Especially did he give attention to the 
methods of procedure in English and French 
courts. On his return, he practiced for a 
while independently, and then became a mem- 
ber of the firm of Carter. Ledyard & Milburn. 
When a special Ambassador was sent by Presi- 
dent Roosevelt to the Coronation of Edward 
VII, Mr. Baylies was named as Secretary to 
the Ambassador. He is a director in several 
large corporations; a member of the Cincin- 
nati and Bar Association. 

Since Xew York became the financial as 
well as commercial center of the United States, 
it has attracted capitalists from all parts of the 
country. No matter where their legal resi- 



dences may remain, they have quarters in Xew 
York, where they pass a large part of every 
year. Edmund K. Stallo was born in Cin- 
cinnati, ()., and educated at its public schools. 
He started out to become a lawyer, studying 
while in commercial employment, and was 
admitted to practice at the bar of the Supreme 
Court of Ohio. He soon became actively en- 
gaged in large commercial enterprises and has 
since devoted all his time thereto. He is a 
sincere lover of books and possesses a library 
of 15.000 volumes, which includes many speci- 
mens of rare editions. He is also a bibliophile 
in the sense of being an omniverous reader. 
his favorite book being Kant's "Critique of 
Pure Reason." He belongs to many social 
organizations in New York and Cincinnati. 

Artemas Ward, Jr.. member of the Assem- 
bly, attracted a great deal of newspaper atten- 
tion because of his conflict with the suffragette 
party during the elections of 1910. One of 
his noted ancestors was General Artemas 
Ward. Major-General under Washington and 
member of the Continental Congress. The 
political career of Artemas Ward, Jr. began 
when, as an election worker, he assisted in the 
overthrow of the Odell machine in Xew York 
County. In the following year he was nomi- 
nated and elected from the 25th Assembly 
District and has served continuously since 
1907. In 1909 he ably handled the Election 
Bills in the Assembly. Mr. Ward was born 
in Philadelphia. 1875, is a Harvard A.B.. an 




EDMUND I.. I'..\\ I II- 



EDM1 \1) K .-'I \l I • i 



ARTEMUS WARD, .Jr. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



31' 




LEONARD A. SNITK1N 



RnHEUT F. WAi.M.i; 



HAKOI.1) J. FRIEDMAN 



LL.B. of Buffalo University and has prac- 
ticed law in Buffalo and in New York since 
1902. lie is a member of the Sphinx, Har- 
vard, City, Ardsley and of many other clubs, 
as well as of the Mayflower Society and Sons 
of the American Revolution. 

Wide experience in criminal and civil work 
was the equipment that has made Leonard A. 
Snitkin a successful municipal Justice. Born 
35 years ago and educated in the public schools 
and the New York University, which conferred 
the LL.B. degree upon him when he gradu- 
ated in 1897. The Supreme Court admitted 
him to practice the same year and he started 
at once on a successful legal career. His 
fitness in his profession was attested by his 
selection as special Deputy Attorney-General 
under Attorney-General Davies, an office 
that he rilled most acceptably. After retiring 
from the Attorney-General's office, he returned 
to active practice. In 11)0!) he was elected 
to a municipal justiceship for a period of ten 
years. He is a member of the National 
Democratic Club, County Lawyers Associa- 
tion and many Hebrew charitable institutions. 
He is very popular in the district in which he 
resides and is familiarly called the "poor 
man's judge." 

In the contest for a United States Senator 
to succeed Chauncey M. Depew. Harold J. 



Friedman, the youngest member of the As- 
sembly, displayed such independence and 
disregard for party dictation that he became 
widely known and commended throughout 
the entire country. He was born in New Y>rk 
City in 1SS7 and after graduating from the 
Horace Mann School and the Teachers' 
College, lie entered the New York Law School 
and also studied in the office of Thomas E. 
Rush. Shortly after his admission to the bar, 
he entered the law firm of Einstein, Town- 
send & Guiternian and later commenced 
practice alone. When elected to the Assem- 
bly, his course in that body was marked by 
such independence of action that he was com- 
mended by the Citizens' Union and by the 
newspapers of the state, many of which classed 
him as a progressive advocate of reform, and 
an unyielding opponent of "ripper" legisla- 
tion. 

One of the youngest Justices of the Supreme 
Court of the State of New York is Luke I). 
Stapleton, bora in Brooklyn in December, 
1869. He was educated at the St. .lames 
Academy and Manhattan College and subse- 
quently took a law course at the University 
of the City of New York. He began practice 
of his profession in tin's city at the age of 22, 
and having special fondness for criminal law, 
tried a large number of capital cases twenty 



.'518 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



three in all. He was Firsl Assistant Corpora- 
tion ( lounsel of tlic ( 'ily of New York, 1898-'01. 
Appointed to the bench by Gov. Hughes, he 
w ,i> renominated by all parlies for the Supreme 
Court Justiceship and elected in November, 
1908, for It years. He is a Democrat and 
belongs to the Brooklyn, Riding & Driving 
and Montauk clubs and the St. Patrick 
Society. 

Fondness for the law is hereditary in sonic 
families and this can be said especially of 
Lawrence E. Hrown, who belongs to a race 
of lawyers. His lather was a lawyer and his 
grandfather, Benjamin W. Bonney, was a 
Supreme Court Justice in this city. Mr. 

Hrown was horn in 
New York, 1 S 7 "-2 ; was 
educated at Williston 
Seminary, East I lamp- 
ton, Mass.. and was 
graduated A.B. at 
jr Yale, 1893. lie taught 

school one year and 
entered his lather's 
law office as a student. 
Admitted to the bar 
in this city, 1897, he 
engaged in general 
practice. In the same 
year he was elected 
a member of the As- 
sembly, as a Republican, from the 29th dis- 
trict, New York City. He is a member of 
the Sons of the American Revolution, his 
great-great-grandfather, David Hrown. having 
commanded the Continental forces at Con- 
cord Bridge and is said to have fired '"the 
shot heard around the world." Mr. Hrown 
also belongs to the Union League and Yale 
clubs. 

James I'. McGovern, lawyer, orator and 
financier, is a worthy example of the New 
York City self-made man. Born in that city 
in 1877, he graduated from the Grammar 
school, meanwhile helping to support his 
parents by the sale of newspapers. He en- 
tered the law department of the Northern 
Pacific R.R. Co. as office boy at the age of 
fifteen, rising rapidly to the position of Chief 
( lerk. Pursuing his academic and law studies 




I \\\ RENCE 



BROW \ 



at night he was admitted to the New York 
Bar at the age of 23, and has since become a 
recognized authority on Corporation Paw 
and Management. Among his clients are 
numbered many large interstate concerns of 
some of which he is director and officer. He 
is Secretary. 'Treasurer and Director of the 
P. S. Industrial Alcohol Co.. an $18,000,000 
corporation, engaged in the manufacture of 
denatured alcohol. For many years his ser- 
vices have been in demand in the campaigns 
of Tammany Hall. In 1905 he was nomi- 
nated by that organization for the State Leg- 
islature in the then Seventeenth Assembly 
District, but through a combination of forces 
was defeated by 85 votes, running however, 
ahead of Mayor McClellan. who headed the 
Democratic ticket. 

A member of the Allen family in Virginia 
does not have to eider into details regarding 
his ancestry. One of the contributions of the 
'Mother of Presidents" to the bar of New 
\ ork is William Allen, born in Claremont, 
Surrey County. His parents removed to Rich- 
mond soon after his birth. He was graduated 
with high honors at Georgetown College, 1875, 
and took a law course at the University of 
Virginia. He practiced as an attorney in 
Richmond, as a member of the firm of Peyton 
& Allen, until 1890, soon after which he came 
to New ^ ork. Here he took high rank at once 
as a corporation lawyer and served as referee 
in bankruptcy for the Southern District of this 
State. Although independent in state, city 
and county politics, Mr. Allen is a Democrat 
in national affairs. He is a staunch Catholic 
and a member of the Bar Association. His 
clubs are The Virginians, University and 
Southern societies. 

A man of wise judgment regarding values 
of real property in this city or its vicinage 
is De Witt C. Fox. Horn in the metropolis, 
1882, he took classical and law courses at 
Columbia University, finishing in 1904. After 
practicing law for several years, he turned his 
energy entirely in the direction of real estate 
development, conducting several large opera- 
tions. He suggested the Duane Street site for 

Do 

the County Court House which the Hoard of 
Estimate has accepted. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



319 



Since graduation and admission to the bar, 
the career of William W. Lapoint has been a 
varied one and his versatility is proven by his 
success alone several lines. He was born in 




U I I.I.I \M \\ I \l'i IINT 



Barre, Vermont, November 10. 1870, and has 
been successively newsboy, lawyer, theatrical 
manager, journalist, dramatist and campaign 

orator. His education was obtained at the 
Goddard Seminary in his native town and at 
the Boston University and his legal training 
was in the office of ex-mayor J. W. Gordon, 
Barre, At. After admission to the bar, Mr. 
Lapoint practiced law in his native town and 
also became manager of the local theatre 
there. During liis residence in Barre he 
wrote several plays, edited a weekly journal 
and acted as correspondent of Boston and 
New York papers. He was also for seven 
years prosecuting attorney in Barre, Vt., and 
also acted as assistant District Attorney of 
Washington County in the same state. After 
coming to New York lie entered the practice 
of liis profession and in 1!>10 acted as a Tinted 
States Census [nspector. 

During the years of his practice Mr. Lapoint 
has won three murder cases and has lost but 



twelve out of the large number of civil and 
criminal cases in which he has appeared, 
in New ^ ork and \ ermont. lie is now meet- 
ing with great success in recovering English 

1 ■ ' DO 

estates for American claimants, and is also 
ailing as counsel for several well-known 
theatrical managers. During the campaign of 

1909 he was a vigorous speaker in Otto Ban- 
nard's behalf. 

Mr. Lapoinl is an ex-Commander of the 
Vermonl Division. Sons of Veterans, a mem- 
ber of the New York Society Sous of Vermont, 
and former vice-president of Ihe Goddard 
Alumni Association. lie is interested in the 
Staples Estates Company and owner of the 
\ erniont Theatre ( Company. 

The strength of personality is admirably 
illustrated in the character of John B. Stanch- 
field, who plays a preeminent part in the 
Democratic counsels of the state of New York. 
Mr. Stanchfield has distinguished himself in 
his profession, that of law, in private practice 
and as District Attorney of Chemung County 
during ISXO-'S.j. He was born in Elmira, 
N. V. March, 1855, was graduated from 
Elmira Academy, 1872, and took the degree of 
A.B. at Amherst College in 1876 and studied 
his profession at the Harvard Law School and 
in the office of the late David B. Hill in Elmira. 
He later became Mr. Hill's partner. Mr. 
Stanchfield has served as Mayor of Elmira and 
as member of the Assembly of this state. He 
was nominated for Governor in 1900 and for 
U. S. Senator in 1901. 

He is a member of the Bar Association of the 
City of New York and of the New- York 
County Lawyers' Association. He is a mem- 
ber of Ihe I niversity and Manhattan Clubs 
andofthePsi Upsilon fraternity. 

The ability to fill any niche and fill it 
acceptably, is the reason that Charles M. 
Russell has been successful in several lines of 
endeavor. He is a product of the country 
village, being born in (dens Falls, N. Y.. 
December 11. 1872. His early training was 
received in Ihe schools of his native village, 
in the Glens Falls Academy and Cornell 
I niversity. Prior to his collegiate days he 
served an apprenticeship as drug clerk, and 



320 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



while in college acted as an out-of-town cor- 
respondent of metropolitan dailies. He util- 
ized his vacation periods as clerk of a large 
Lake George Hotel, of which he afterwards 
became proprietor. He first attracted atten- 
tion by his work as a reporter on the Albany 




CHARLES M. RUSSELL 

Press and Knickerbocker and as legislative 
correspondent of the New York Tribune and 
Sun. While hustling for news he attended 
the Albany Law School and was admitted to 
the bar in 1899. He came to New York 
City the same year and entered upon his pro- 
fessional career. Mr. Russell devotes twelve 
hours each day to business and sometimes 
fifteen and sixteen, having in addition to his 
law practice the care of several estates and 
the management of the Metropolitan Hard- 
ware Co., of which he is president. This 
business, unique in its Held and methods, has 
widely expanded under his supervision. Mr. 



Russell is a Mason, a member of the New 
York Press Club, the Montauk Club, Ma- 
chinery Club, Cornell University Club, Delta 
Phi fraternity and many social and political 
organizations. His acquaintance with poli- 
ticians of both state and national importance, 
newspaper men and others in public life is 
most extensive. He married the daughter of 
Senator William J. La Roche, who was well 
known at Albany. Mr. Russell succeeded 
Senator La Roche as president of the Metro- 
politan Hardware Company. 

One of the most prominent practitioners 
at the New York Par during the last quarter 
of a century was George G. De Witt, who 
died January 12, 1912. His power of quick 
analysis and perception, fidelity to court and 
client, and courteous consideration of others 
brought him a large clientele and the friend- 
ship and respect of every one with whom he 
came in contact. He was born in Callicoon. 
Sullivan County. New York, April 9, 1S4."), 
the son of George and Julia (Foster) De Witt, 
and received his preparatory education at the 
Columbia Grammar School. New York City, 
afterward entering Columbia College from 
which he received the degree of A. P. in lS(i? 
and A.M. in 1870. His legal training was 
received in the Columbia Law School which 
conferred the LL.P. degree upon him in 1869. 
He was admitted to the bar the same year and 
practiced in New York City until his untimely 
death. George G. DeWitt was a man of 
unblemished integrity and the highest attain- 
ments and could well be characterized as a 
lawyer of the "old school." At the time of his 
death he was a director of the Chemical Bank, 
the New York Life Insurance Company and 
the Fulton Trust Company; a member of 
many of the leading clubs. He was also a 
trustee of Columbia University and Roosevelt 
Hospital; one of the governors of New York 
Hospital and vice-president of the New York 
Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. 




THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



321 



CHAPTER XXIII 



CHRISTMAS AND Till'. FRENCH BAIT 




children s 
tlie cities 



jIIRISTMAS is the time of the 
pine tree, holly and mistletoe. 
Conservation of the American 
forest is unpopular at Christ- 
mas season, because young 
pines that would become mon- 
archy of the forest in our grand- 
time are cut down and shipped to 
to serve as Christmas trees — the 
wildwood's sacrifice to the children! 

Of the Christmas tree, most modern of all 
accessories of the sacred anniversary, nothing 
need be said. Encyclopedias are full of its 
history. But the holly and the mistletoe 
supply a theme flavored with delightful ro- 
mance and smacking of warm kisses of 
maidens and youths. The popularity of the 
holly, with its bright red berries, is probably 
due to its natural beauty. Joined with a 
Christmas wreath, it adorns our windows 
from Christmas to Xew Year's day. To me 
its mystic meaning is entrancing. Like the 
mistletoe, it comes to us from the ages when 
Druids worshipped trees as gods! For that 
reason, the parasitic mistletoe was excluded 
from Christian churches for fifteen hundred 
years. Toward the end of the last century, 
the little gray berries began to have place with 
the red ones as pulpit decorations. Often 
have I wondered if the average Christian 
minister comprehended that in such use of the 
mistletoe, pagan rites of the ancient Druids 
of Western France and Britain were appro- 
priated. 

If Caesar were as accurate in his information 
about the Druids as about other peoples he 
described, he must be leaned upon for nearly 
all known about these devoutly religious 
ancients. lie tells us they had a Pope, who 
was infallible. The festival of Christmas far 
antedates Christ, because the Druids cele- 
brated it. Indeed, the 6th of January was 
observed as the Day of the Nativity by Chris- 



tians until the middle of the fourth century, 
when Pope Julius 1 changed the anniversary 
to December L 2.>th. 

To return to the Druids, when this famous 
holiday drew near the Sovereign Pontiff sum- 
moned his people to Rouvres. where the holy 
ceremony of the mistletoe was performed. 
The parasite must be gathered from a tree 
of not more than 30 years' growth. The 
forest was then primeval, and the leathery, 
parasitic shrub was easily procured. Under 
the oak upon which grew the sacred plant, 
as if to deify the fortunate tree, the altar was 
raised. 

The solemn procession, exactly as was the 
custom in Egypt under the Pharaohs, was 
preceded by the victims, two white bulls that 
never had felt the yoke. After them came 
priests, novices, disciples, the three most ven- 
erable pontiffs and, last, the Supreme Pontiff, 
clad in white and girdled with gold. Hymns 
were sung while the sacrifices were making. 
Then the Great Druid climbed the tree, and 
with a golden sickle cut off the sacred plant 
and distributed parts thereof among the at- 
tendant priests. Relievers, in turn, received 
small portions of the {pouch restum or univer- 
sal remedy) life-giving mistletoe. 

This sacred shrub cured all ills of the body; 
it was an amulet against misfortune; it warded 
off enchantment; a house that harbored it 
was not to be struck by lightning. There 
was nothing profane, cruel or disgusting in 
the ceremonial of the beloved mistletoe! 
Some of the other Druidieal rites were terrible. 

Xo Druidieal superstition can prevent young 
girls of this generation from hanging the mistle- 
toe in places high enough for them to be led 
under by the man by whom they wish to be 
kissed. At this season wreaths of evergreen 
and holly appear in windows of rich and poor 
alike and the dainty, mysterious mistletoe is 



322 



TIIK HOOK of NEW YORK 



dangling from gas and electric fixtures, in 
homes of poverty as well as wealth. 

In Xew York, the event to which the gay 
world looked forward, after Christinas, was 
the annual French Ball. Every reader of 
this volume knows what habit is. I had been 
attending that merry Winter diversion ever 
since a nixing in Xew York. In the early 
davs if was held at the Academy of Music, 
on Fourteenth Street, and its recurrence was 
anticipated more distinctly than other dates 
on the calendar. Illness or absence from the 
country alone prevented my attendance. A 
description of one will suffice for all. A weird, 
unholy glamour of unreality surrounds all 
inexperienced conceptions of great halls at 
Madison Square Garden. Flowers, electri- 
city, champagne of all qualities, and pretty 
women of all classes are there. Late suppers, 
lost coat checks, insolent waiters, over-charges 
in the wine-room, deliriously shocking inci- 
dents of cocotterie are inextricably jumbled 
in the imaginations of people who never at- 
tended a French Ball. Imagine that you ac- 
company me. on a crisp February night, to 
observe the frivolity of ."5. 000 men and women, 
to hear for four hours the chatter of 5,000 
voices and the continuous blare of two mam- 
moth orchestras, playing turn about. 

Heaven is said to be the only place in which 
fail 1 and lovely woman is understood, hut one 
comprehends why members of the gentler 
sex. fashioned for Paradise, attend such halls. 
They go to be admired! Like other men, we 
fall into the circling line and worship. The 
"Parade of All Nations" has completed its 
final circuit of the dancing floor. We are in 
ample time to witness the transformation of 
church-wardens into hilarious harlequins. ( )ur 
tongues are keen with comment. If vour 
Parisian experience has been real, you can 
imagine yourself at Montmartre or in the 
Quariier Latin with Henry Murger as guide, 
for we have at hand "La Vie de Boheme" in 
more than five acts. We occupy the hour 
between 12 and 1 in paying calls. This is a 
dull period, because a continuous stream of 
guests is pouring into the Madison Square 
Garden and the trend of diversion is. as yet, 
unestablished. The music is in sympathy; 
the stringed orchestra is plavine a dreamy 



waltz by Waldteufel, described as "The Violet," 

a neutral tint to serve as priming for cardinal 
hues to be laid on later. Everywhere is "a dash 
of lavender." Although the music intoxicates 
us in one way. we detect a welcoming gleam 
in the eves of Musette, true daughter of 

* 

Bohemia. You have your first waltz with her! 
I am enmeshed in a sudden conjunction of 
dancers. 

Outside the dancing floor is a broad prom- 
enade, fenced off by a hedge of evergreen. 
Wcvc is a vantage point from which to inspect 
the occupants of the boxes. They are there 
to be seen and should not be overlooked. 
Faces, fail- and otherwise, are everywhere! 
Pink, light blue and cream-hued costumes 
vary the monotony of white lace and chiffon. 
Some masks are still worn, although midnight 
has passed. Hired revellers have left the 
floor and the ball is fairly launched. In each 
box is a small table, destined to play its part 
when wine is brought. Bottles and glasses 
appear thereon and disappear therefrom, as 
by magic. How cosmopolitan the atmos- 
phere! In that quarter mile saunter are to 
lie seen the besl and worst men and women in 
America. The same proximity occurs in all 
parts of the building. 

There is a hush! Enter the opera-queen, 
from the Casino! She wears a super!) milk- 
white gown of silk, cut Directoire, brocaded 
with golden roses and trimmed with point 
de Venise lace. Her neck and shoulders are 
ablaze with diamonds, "stage" or real. The 
immortal Sarah Bernhardt looks on from Mr. 
French's box. Every actor and most of the 
actresses of the city are present; one would 
think it a professionals' morning performance. 

How one's thirst emphasizes itself at such 
a time. Here is the making of a great balk- 
time for a "high" one! The bar is crowded 
and noisy: hut it is peaceful as a woodland dell 
compared with the wine-room. We are again 
on the dancing floor in time for the York, 
done to "Kin Herz, ein Sinn." Kind Provi- 
dence finds partners for us, not a miracle, 
by any means. A tame frolic, ending in the 
wine-room, with a cold bottle. 'The Lan- 
cers" brings out a lively group of high-kickers 
at the eastern end of the Garden. Thev dance 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



323 



with more impetuosity than grace. "Ladies 
cross over!" Then ajarandote before the next 
figure. Staring men and women surround the 
set; late comers can barely see the tossing 
heads and flashing eyes of the can-can dancers. 

Simultaneously, a diversion is occurring in 
a box on the southern tier; a popular stock- 
broker has become the prize of a hair-pulling 
match between two rival beauties. The cause 
of the contention lights a cigarette and swal- 
lows a glass of wine, indifferent to the out- 
come. Why shall he interfere.' The float- 
ing throng sways to that side of the house. 
like the rush of a football team. So greal 
is the jam that an elderly woman, long past 
days of frivolity, faints and is trampled upon 
before she can be lifted and carried into a 
corridor. 

Two o'clock! Ludicrous scenes of folly 
are visible, now, as every second is ticked! 
In a nearby box. a perfect lady, excessively 
desirous of seeing the prostrate woman, still 
supposed to he upon the floor, leans too far 
over the front railing, loses control of her 
light head, turns a somersault and lands upon 
the shoulders of the throng below her. She 
is boosted back into her box. uninjured but 
terribly mussed. 

The brass band having had an inning, the 
stringed orchestra renews the waltzing. Music 
and wine are vieing with each other for popu- 
larity. By this time, all of us are as talkative 
as magpies. 

"Come on. old chap," you shout. "bake 
another degree in the brotherhood of man; 
there's much in philanthropy. Tis she! She 
knows me. She's beckoning: I fly to her 
side." And you are true to your word. 1 
lose you. Again that music, sensuous, se- 
ductive, "Ange d' Amour." My partner is a 
superb mistress of the dance and we end in a 
whirl towards the wine-room. Only one table, 
but we get it. Bring a bottle! Pop! Swish! 
Tr-r-r-zp! 

An hour with a Bacchante! An hour 
gorged with frivolity and expense; a memory 
of polyglottery, of stale salad and of cham- 
pagne that never knew the beautiful land of 
France. "Ange d' Amour," lovely music. 
The not less lovely creature tells me aboul 



herself. They all do. As the wine bubbles 
about the rims of the "lasses, she warbles her 
variation of the dear old yarn. She takes two 
thousand words to recount it. but I can tell 
her two-bottle romance in two hundred: 

"I am the daughter of an impoverished but 

noble family. I was raised near Joinville, on 
the Maine, outside Paris. I was sent to a 
convent, but ran away with an American artist. 
\\ e wore happy together; he was waiting for 
his father's death to marry me. I was the 
model for his 'Mimi' that took the Prix de 
Rome in the next Salon. I never had attended 
a ball at the ( )pera. I slipped away and wont 
one night with a young Parisian, meaning no 
harm. My poor Fred was there and chal- 
lenged my escort on the spot. They took 
cabs for the Pare de Vincennes and met at 
daylight, rapiers in hand, in the very park 
wherein, as a young girl. I had played! 1 fol- 
lowed, hoping to interfere; but I w as too late. I 
found Fred on the ground with a sword 
wound in his breast. lie died in my arms. 
There was an inch of snow on the around; 
the dear boy's blood made a sickening spot 
therein. Speaking of art, you know (Jerome's 
picture of a duel in the snow ? lie paints the 
blood red. you remember.' He never saw 
any blood-stained snow — never had a lover 
die for love of him. He should have made 
it chrome with a dash of Nile and a daub of 



lak< 



* Oil. here's the win 



Haifa dozen ladies known to you tell similar 
stories equally well. When we return to the 
dancing floor, the promenade band is playing 
'The Beggar Student." as half the merry- 
makers in the vast throng burst into a chorus: 

In :i moment of rapture, a transporl of bliss, 
On her lily-white shoulder 1 planted ;i kiss. 

At this moment, you reappear, my neophite! 
You are waltzing as if it wore a life's task. 
Singing, too; forever singing. \N iue is served 
on the ball-room floor —against rules, but 
profitable. "Here's to life!" is the toast that 
accompanies the champagne. "Take oil' the 
roof that the stars may see how happy I am!" 
retorts Sapho at your side, draining her glass. 
A snowstorm is raging outside but nobody 
knows or cares. 

" Who breaks, pays!" Put who pays is of no 



324 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



importance. Money is dross, only made to 
buy the smiles of pretty women. 

In a boxsits "my real old friend," Musette. 
widow of a college mate, whose grief over a 
husband's loss started her on the merry career 
she now leads. I stand in front of her box 
to have speech with her. Although she affects 
jollity, I can read regret in her eyes. Her face 
is flushed with wine. Alas, there's sad con- 
trast to the time when I knew her as a good 
woman! Once a successful actress, she rarely 
has a choice in these days between a coupe 
and a stage. — meaning an omnibus. A bold 
venture "on the road" as a "star" having 
proved disastrous, she is now following "the 
primrose way." 

"Ah! There's the old waltz « Tout Paris!' " 
she exclaims. "Just once 'round the house. 
in memory of other days!" She hastens from 
the box to my side. Musette is as Champ- 
fleury describes her. — tall, slender and grace- 
ful as a willow. Her gown of dull, black satin 
tits her like a glove and becomes her. to me. 
at least, because the black typifies mourning 
for a dead past. Away we move to the waltz 
music. She begins to tell me what has hap- 
pened since we last met, — they always do,- 
when a big woman bumps against her. Mu- 
sette haughtily surveys the dame and says, 

"Go home, grandma!" 

We are soon at the southwestern corner of 
the Garden, where a once pretty blonde in a 
box is monopolizing attention. She is sprawl- 
ing in a chair, limp and unconscious. A col- 
ored maid is bathing her face with champagne, 
water being unobtainable. The man who has 
brought the beauty is solicitous; but before he 
lifts the precious burden in his arms, he ad- 
justs a mask upon his own face. There are 
water-drinkers in Bohemia, according to Mur- 
ger, but none is at this ball. When the dance 
is finished, my watch marks "Five o'clock" 
and I have promised to take Musette to her 
home. 

Ziffzaeeine across the floor is a handsome 
young chap, barking like a dog. Every one of 
us has hydrophobia, therefore none is afraid 
of him. If he be mad, others are as fearful 
of water as he. Not a glassful in the Garden! 
A two-step is next on the card. Cyclones of 



humanity sweep across the floor, making a 
wreckage of torn gowns. A gentle youth 
walks amid this mad medley, as Pinel trod 
the maniac wards of Bicetre. handing to each 
woman who pleases his fancy an American 
Beauty rose. He carries an armful, each 
flower having cost him $2 at a counter in the 
lobby. He is a man of thirty, scrupulously 
attired. At times he exacts a kiss in exchange 
for the rose: so exquisite is his art of approach, 
so palpable his condition, there's neither re- 
sentment nor refusal. Like the moon, he is 
greatest when full. 

Morning has come, but not daylight. Music 
has lost its charm. Time of waltz and two- 
step is slower, owing to sheer fatigue of mem- 
bers of the orchestra. The last circle of the 
floor has been completed. Seeking Musette, 
she is told that the hour of departure has ar- 
rived. In an adjoining box, I observe that 
Nanine has begun her two-bottle story, and 
that the rich brewer by her side has succumbed 
to potations more heating than his own beer. 
At her other side. listening to the story, is an 
old banker, opening wine. He opens his 
mouth and yawns, most discourteously. Per- 
haps he has heard Nanine's tale elsewhere? 

Eighteen of the largest roosters in all New 
York, imprisoned in cages over the second 
balcony, are awakened by a simultaneous thrill 
of electric current sent through the metal 
perches upon which they are dozing. They 
crow in chorus! Theoretically, dawn has 
come! Out go many of the lights. The band 
is playing "Home, Sweet Home." 

We take a carriage at the main entrance to 
the Garden, Musette and I. The vehicle 
makes its way through deep snow and turns 
into Twenty-seventh Street, toward Broad- 
way, en route to the upper West Side. In the 
gray of the morning light, as we pass the Hotel 
Victoria, its lover is seen to be aglow with 
electric lights. Musette points to a score of 
bedraggled women upon their knees scrubbing 
a marble floor! A grim-faced housekeeper, 
perched upon a tall stool, directs the workers 
amid suds ami dirt. Their task-mistress is 
berating them; her voice is barren of sympathy 
for their lot. To her, this is a hard world 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



325 



and she makes it so for others. Turning 
my companion, who is trembling, I ask: 
"What do you think of that?" 
"That is virtue!" exclaims Musette. 



"Ah, yes! See what it costs!" 
"Perhaps they, too, danced at a French 

liall and drank champagne, once upon a 

time." 







"SHF* 



From Pain I 
THE SINGER BUILDING, LOWER BROADWAY 

The Stud f Oliver Lippincott, Pho ol Men, is in 

this Building. 



326 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER XXIV 



MARVELS OF SURGERY AND MEDICINE 




HERE's no autocracy in sur- 
gery to-day!" said the late 
Dr. George F. Shrady to me 
during a visit with him at the 

Hotel Renaissance shortly be- 
fore his death. He stated the 
case accurately, because an 
emergency in surgery can be met in the back- 

w Is by a so-called "country doctor" as well 

as in the best-equipped city hospital. This 
is due to simplification of methods, the splen- 
did work of the post-graduate schools bymen 
who give the benefits of their experience for 
the benefit of the young men who must 
take their places before long. Many such able 
and conscientious teachers in this city and at 
colleges elsewhere are my friends. I shall 
mention many of them in this volume. 

The human race should take heart! Some 
of the most dreaded human ailments have been 
abolished by medicine in civilized countries. 
Many of the older plagues have not only been 
robbed of their terrors but have ceased to come 
to our shores. Surgery is annually saving 
thousands of lives that would have been be- 
yond human hope only a generation ago. 
Perhaps the most brilliant surgical operations 
of the present concern the heart ; in chloroform 
poisoning, for example, after the patient is 
dead to all previous understanding, an open- 
ing is made, the heart is grasped in the hand 
and is directly massaged until natural action 
is resumed. This is already a settled method 
of practice. A surgeon must do and dare! 
The grand thing in medicine and in surgery 
is to save life. 

However wonderful and praiseworthy repar- 
ative surgery and medicine may be. the high- 
esl aim of either branch of the art is to prevent 
disease, or to obviate an operation rather than 
to perform it. The spectacular phases of 



advanced sanitation were reached during the 
recent Russo-Japanese War. Dr. Louis L. 
Seaman, who visited the battlefields and hos- 
pitals while that terrible conflict was in prog- 
ress, has given to the world definite informa- 
tion regarding the marvelous 1 might almost 
say magical methods by which camps were 
protected from epidemics and the general 
health of vast armies maintained. Modern 
aseptic treatment works wonders! The cour- 
age of tlie members of the United States medi- 
cal corps who solved the yellow fever mystery, 
by submitting themselves to be bitten by in- 
fected mosquitoes, was equal to that of the 
battlefield. Many of them died from the 
disease that future generations might live! 
There is no longer any conflict between sur- 
gery and medicine: one is ever ready to yield 
to the other. 

The recent elevation of Sir Thomas Crosby, 
a distinguished London physician, to the post 
of Lord Mayor of London, calls attention to 
the fact that practitioners of the healing art 
have attained high honors outside their own 
profession. The Crosby family is an old one, 
antedating the Norman Conquest and Sir 
Thomas is the first physician to be a successor 
of •'Dick*' Whittington. 1 recall Dr. L. S. 
Jameson, who rose to be Prime Minister of 
South Africa; Dr. Georges Clemenceau, who 
served as Prime Minister of the French Re- 
public; Dr. Leonard Wood, who is to-day a 
Major-General and Chief of the General Stall' 
of the United States Army; Prince Louis 
Ferdinand of Bavaria, who is a regular prac- 
titioner only among the poor: Lord Lister. 
the father of antiseptic surgery, represents 
his profession in the British House of Lords; 
Dr. William Jenner was knighted by the late 
Queen Victoria and was consulted by her on 
matters of statecraft; Dr. Jacob II. Gallinger 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



327 



of New Hampshire has been ;i United Slates 
Senator from his state for several terms, and 



ie 



Mor- 


is in- 


Louis 


ornell 



many other names might be mentioned, 
service Pasteur, Charcot, Shrady and 
ton have rendered to the human race 
calculable. 

When I set out to talk about Dr. 
Livingston Seaman, an associate a I < 
University and a devoted friend during all the 
years we have dwelt in New York, a whole 
volume is needed. I Ie was born at Newburgh, 
N. Y., October, 1851. His family has a line 
record in the medical profession; his grand- 
father, Valentine Seaman, M.D., introduced 
vaccination in this city. 17!)!). ( )n his mother's 
side. Dr. Seaman is a descendant from Robert 
Livingston, First Lord of the Manor, and 
from Philip Livingston, a signer of the Decla- 
ration of Independence. Entering Cornell 
with its first class, he was graduated A. I?.; 
thence he went to Jefferson Medical College, 



ml was graduated, the gold 



Philadelphia, 

medalist, in 1876. Post graduate medical 
courses were taken at Vienna, Paris and 
Edinburgh; later he received a degree of 
Bachelor of Laws at the University of New 
York. lie then served as resident surgeon 
of the State Immigrant Hospital on Ward's 
Island and as Chief of Staff of various insti- 
tutions on Blackwell's Island from 1877 to 
1885. First of his many tours around the 
world was made in 1SS7. during which in 
India and China he studied cholera and other 
infectious and epidemic diseases of the Far 
East. When the Spanish-American War arose 
Dr. Seaman promptly offered his services and 
was appointed Surgeon-Major of the 1st 
Regiment, U. S. V. Engineers and served in 
Porto Rico and Cuba; and subsequently as 
Surgeon of the 17th and L 2.'5rd Regiments of 
Infantry in the Philippines; was with the 
Army of Occupation during the Boxer War 
in China, 1900-1901; was with the Russian 
Army in Manchuria, 1904; and at the front 
with the Japanese in Mongolia under General 
Oku, when peace was declared, 1!)(>.>. Dr. 
Seaman was also in South Africa during the 
Zulu troubles, and in East Africa with the 
German troops in l!X)(i. lie made two trips 
to the \ ictoria Nyanza region to study the 



sleeping sickness. On one of these occasions, 
he was accompanied by Mrs. Seaman the 
first American lady to see the Ripon Palls and 
head waters of the Nile in Uganda. Prior 
to thai journey made several months before 
Colonel Roosevelt Dr. Seaman had pene- 
trated the Dark Continent over the famous 





[j|rfe<*J 


i* 


i 




t 


i \.v * 


j 




/ 







l)r LOUIS LIVINGSTON SEAMAN 

Zambezi deck of his kinsman, David Living- 
stone, to Victoria Falls; and the following year, 
in company with the late Dr. Nicholas Senn, 
had circumnavigated South America and 
crossed the Andees four times. 

The researches and publications of this 
American student and traveler have received 
and deserved recognition in all parts of the 
world. lie is a Fellow of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society, and of the Royal Society 
of Arts of England. In recognition of his 
services to Japan's army in the field, the Em- 



328 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



peror conferred upon Dr. Seaman, insignias 
of the Order of the Rising Sun and of the 
( >rder of Special Merit for Service on the field. 
By vote of the Societe de la Croix of Japan, 
he received Honorary Life Membership in the 
Red Cross Society of that country. He was 
awarded the Diploma d'llonneur, Exposition 
Internationale de Paris, for his services in 
Army Sanitary Reform. He has been ap- 
pointed delegate to various International Med- 
ical Congresses at London. Berlin. Moscow, 
Paris. Rome. Madrid. Lisbon and Budapest. 
His contributions to medical journals, ad- 
dresses to colleges, professional and sociological 
organizations are too numerous to cite. Among 
a dozen books. I must mention "The Real 
Triumph of Japan."* •'From Tokio Through 
Manchuria with the Japanese.** "La Ration 
du Soldat en Campagne," 'Triumphs of 
Scientific Medicine, in Peace and War." and 
"Utilization of Native Troops in our Colonial 
Possessions." In addition to membership in 
the American Medical Association, the Acade- 
my of Medicine, and the County and State 
medical societies, Dr. Seaman belongs to 
thirty-odd social, professional, literary and 
civic organizations and the Authors. Lotos, 
Calumet. Players. Cornell University, St. 
Nicholas. Asiatic. Army and Navy. Republi- 
can and City clubs; tin- Metropolitan (dub of 
Washington, and the Royal Societies Club of 
London. Dr. Seaman's affection tor Ins Alma 
Muter is shown by his gift of the 'Varsity Cup 
for preeminence in aquatic sports. lie has 
also served as president of the Cornell Univer- 
sity Club of New York, and is now the presi- 
dent of the China Society of America. 

Among all the medical specialists of the 
metropolis, Frank E. Miller, regarded as a 
world-wide authority on diseases of nose. 
throat and ear, has had an especially inter- 
esting career. Born at Hartford. Conn., in 
IS.")!), he was graduated from Trinity College 
in the year 1881, after which he came direct 
to New York and entered the College of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons, acquiring a doctor's 
deeree in lss-t. After two years as a medical 
and surgical interne at New York, Charity and 
St. Francis Hospitals. Dr. Miller became a 
sanitary inspector for the Board of Health. 
where he remained three years. He then 



served as an assistant under distinguished 
professors in the New York Polyclinic, the 
Vanderbilt Clinic, the New York University 
and the Post-Graduate Hospitals. It was at 
this time that he began specializing in diseases 
of the throat and acted as assistant for Dr. 
W. P. Swift. Dr. Urban G. Hitchcock and 
Dr. R. P. Lincoln, the latter a distinguished 
throat specialist. Dr. Miller was attending 




MILLER 



physician to the Minerva Home, to the Way- 
side Nursery, to St. Joseph's Hospital for sev- 
eral years and is now consulting physician for 
St. Francis Hospital. In 1906 he was ap- 
pointee! visiting physician to the New York 
Hospital: he is also at present a member of 
the Board of Medical Directors of the Loomis 
Sanitarium. He has had vast experience in 
treatment of the throat, ear and nose, espe- 
cially at the Vanderbilt and Bellevue Hospital 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



329 



clinics. He has been laryngoloffist to the 
Metropolitan College of Music since 1890. 
Dr. Miller began private practice in lSS(i; lie 
has treated 188,000 patients in the last ten 
years. While a student at Hartford. Dr. 
Miller was solo tenor in the (dee Club at 
Trinity College; later, while pursuing his medi- 
cal course in New York, he was solo tenor 
of St. Thomas' Church. Fifth Avenue and 
53rd Street. Intense enthusiasm over music 
caused him to make a thorough study of the 
vocal organs and of the cultivation of the 
human voice; he established a principle of 
hollow space resonances which has gained 
authoritative recognition as the nearest ap- 
proach to a perfect theory of voice production. 
He was first to advocate a regular standard 
for tone of voice production, by which any 
voice can be definitely measured and classi- 
fied. He also suggested what he described 
as a Voice Sifting Bureau. At one time or 
another he has been consulted by the most 
prominent singers of the musical world. Due 
to the fact that Dr. Miller is both a distin- 
guished medical throat specialist and possesses 
the qualifications of a high-class singer and 
musician. Mr. Oscar Ilammerstein engaged 
him to pass upon the throats and vocal organs 
of his artists, — an innovation in voice training 
methods of the most radical kind. Dr. Miller 
has outlined a new theory of the origin of 
nodules, from a study of 234 cases, which 
has been subsequently confirmed. He is 
author in collaboration of .1 Comperid <>f 
Nose, Throat <tn<l Ear Diseases, and has 
written many papers on the voice and vocal 
organs. He has devoted much time to in- 
vestigations regarding the treatment of tuber- 
culosis. He is a member of the American 
Medical Association, the American Laryn- 
o-oloo'ical. Khinoloo'ical and Otological Society. 
He is a 32d degree Mason, a Knights Templar, 
a member of the Mystic Shrine and the Elks. 
Among his clubs are the Players', Lotos. Men- 
delssohn Glee. New York Yacht, Republican, 
Masonic and the New England Society. In 
19111 Schirmer & Company published his book. 
The Voice, which has been adopted by the 
Board of Regents and Public Schools as a 
text-book. 



Germany makes a valued contribution to ad- 
vanced surgery as practiced in New York in 
the person of Dr. Willy Meyer, born at Min- 
den, Westphalia, in 1858. He was educated 
at the University of Bonn and was an assist- 
ant in the surgical clinic therein until 1884, 
when he came to New York City, win 
uncle. Dr. Abraham Jacobi, had 



been 



us 
in 






iJl^y^ 



practice for thirty years. After working in 
the surgical department of the German Dis- 
pensary and conducting a general practice for 
a short time, he decided to devote himself 
exclusively to surgery. He was appointed 
professor of clinical surgery in the Woman's 
Medical College and served from 1886-'93. 
He has been instructor and professor of sur- 
gery at the New York Post-Graduate Medical 
School and Hospital since 1887. lie is At- 
tending-Surgeon to the German Hospital 
(1887), Consulting Surgeon to the New York 
Skin and Cancer Hospital and to the New 
York Infirmary, the liar Moriah Hospital and 
the Hospital for Deformities and .Joint Dis- 



330 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



uses. He was the first to introduce cystos- 
copy, in 1887, and Bottini's operation, in 
1897, into this country. lie is a Fellow of the 
American Surgical Association and of many 
medical societies. 

Among distinguished physicians of the 
metropolis is George Thomas Stevens, who 
served throughout the Civil War, first as sur- 
geon of the Seventy- 
seventh X. Y. V.. as 
division surgeon and as 
medical inspector of 
the Sixth Army ( lorps. 
Dr. Stevens was horn 
in Essex County of this 
state in 1832 and was 
educated at Castleton 
(Vt.) Medical College, 
receiving the degree 
of Ph. 1). from Union 
College. lie began 
practice in Xew York 
in 1880, after a term as 
Professor of Physiology 

t Oi 

and Diseases of the Eve 
at Union University. While located in 
Albany, as Secretary of the Xew York 
Soldiers' and Sailors' Union in 1886, the 
XCw York department of the Grand Army 
of the Republic was organized in his office by 
four men. of whom he was one. His first an- 
cestor in America was John Stevens, who 
came to Xew Haven as one of the Davenport 
colony about Ki4.5. Dr. Stevens has received 
the highest prize from the Royal Academy 
of Medicine of Belgium for a treatise on 
"Functional Diseases of the Nervous System;" 
lie is likewise the inventor of many surgical 
and philosophical instruments. He is author 
of several standard works on nervous diseases 
and treatises on ophthalmic subjects. He has 



1 


l 


i 


\: 



Dr. GEORGE T. STEVENS 



recently published an "Illustrated Guide 
Flowering Plants." 



to 




Dr. GEORGE EVANS 



American dentistry is classed as the best 
in the world. George Evans, who is Irish by 
birth, was born at ( 'ork. Ireland. He received 

his early education in 
Ireland and when he 
came here at the age of 
ten attended the public 
schools and College of 
the City of Xew York. 
I )r. Evans studied 
music and art. His 
original plan was to be- 
come an architect. He 
incidentally became in- 
terested in dentistry 
and finally chose that 
profession, st ud v i ng 
under the late Dr. Wal- 
ter P. Roberts, of Bond 
Street, inventor of the 
Roberts Torpedo for reviving exhausted oil 
wells. Dr. Evans lectured at the Baltimore 
College of Dentistry for twelve years: has also 
lectured in the X'ew York College of Dentistry, 
at the University of Pennsylvania and at the 
Royal College of Dentists. Toronto. He is 
the author of a popular Treatise on Crown- 
and-Bridge-Work and Porcelain Dental Art. 
He has introduced many novel methods in 
dental practice and has secured patents for 
mechanical dental devices in this country and 
Europe and is also interested in the manufac- 
ture of dental materials. He has also been an 
operator in city real estate and has a country 
place at Svosset, E. I. He is a member of the 
Eolos, X. Y. Athletic. Ibero-Americo, and 
Canadian Camp clubs, and of leading dental 
societies. 




THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



33] 



CHAPTER XXV 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE liAII.KOAD BUSINESS 




Tl 



H'll 



single 



MLROADING is unqualifiedly 
the greatesl industry of the 
United States. Taking the 
railroad map as il was in 1870 
and comparing it with that of 
to-day, development is seen in 
every section of the country. 
trans-Continental line, known 
as the Union and Central Pacific railroads. 
from Omaha to Oakland, opposite San Fran- 
cisco, was considered an achievement that 
nothing could outrank. The troubles of that 
road were with snow-slides and washouts. 
Hundreds of miles of snow-sheds were built. 
Then followed Jay Cooke's Northern Pacific, 
which slowly crawled across a totally un- 
populated region — an enterprise that went 
to smash because people who were supplying 
the money failed to see where traffic would 
be found. The Southern Pacific, engineered 
by C. P. Huntington, who had acquired vast 
experience in railway building in the construc- 
tion of the Central Pacific from the Pacific 
coast to Ogden. Next, the Atchison. Topeka 
& Santa Fe, originally a small group of lines, 
was caught up by Boston capitalists and 
rushed through to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, a 
St. Paul commission merchant, named James 
J. Hill, was personally surveying an extension 
of the so-called "Manitoba" road From his 
own city, and. almost before eastern people 
knew about it. the Great Northern was run- 
nine trains to Puget Sound! Its route was 
supposed to run through a land covered with 
snow at least five months of the year. Later 
came the Oregon Short Line — an extension of 
the Union Pacific to the Puget Sound region; 
next the Burlington prolongation into the 
same section of Oregon land. 

The genius of all trans-Continental develop- 
ment was E. II. Ilarriman. a minister's son, 
whom I have described as I knew him in his 
"hustling" days on the Exchange. 



Activities in the West awakened chiefs of 
the great trunk lines in the Last. Fasl trains 
were put on the Pennsylvania and New York 
Centra] roads. At first a 24-hour run to 
Chicago was regarded as the maximum of 
fast travel. To-day a train on each of these 
roads makes the trip in 18 hours, and goes to 
or returns from St. Louis in 24 hours! The 
Erie, pioneer of the eastern trunk lines, has 
been improved, but has not grown as it should, 
owing to a load of debts, saddled upon it at 
various times by designing operators. The 
Baltimore & Ohio, earlier still in construction, 
lacked a New York connection for so many 
years that the traveling public almost over- 
looked its existence. The New England roads 
have keen practically consolidated into a 
single corporation; time from Boston to 
New York still remains at five hours, a trifle 
over 50 miles an hour. As this volume goes 
to press, the most significant incident in 
railroad affairs is the waning of the Gould 
influence, which during the life of Jay Gould 
was potential. The Vanderbilts have almost 
held their own. even against such a magician 
as the late E. II. Ilarriman. who forced him- 
self into the directory of the Vanderbilt 
System only a short time before his death. 
J. Pierpont Morgan ami James J. Hill are the 
dominant powers at this writing, but who 
their successors will be cannot be conjectured. 

The age of giants is here, but the dis- 
persion of enormous fortunes must come! 

The Interstate Commerce Commission has 
accomplished results in regulating freight and 
passenger rates; the Sherman Act only checked 
for a time some unholy combinations of in- 
dustrial interests, which, supported by an 
iniquitous tariff that has benefited the few 
at the expense of the many, has been pushing 
upward the cost of living and engendering 
anarchist feelings in most law-abiding hearts. 

Government regulation is no longer de- 



332 



THE HOOK of MAY YORK 




CI. i IRGE \ POST 



BENJAMIN A. HEGEMAN 



KALI'H PE'J ERS 



scribed as "interference." Its wisdom is con- 
ceded by many of the so-called "captains of 
industry " —like Mr. Carnegie- who have in- 
ordinately fattened their purses during a long 
dynasty of "Do-Nothing-Presidents" and an 
equally long series of corrupt or indifferent 
Congresses. .lames .1. Hill, an authority of 
high value, says two and one-half billions of 
money will be needed during the next five 
years to develop the railroad facilities of this 
country, in order to keep pace with its won- 
derful growth! Where is this enormous sum 
to lie had ? The answer is that it must he 
dug from the ground! The mines of the 
United States must supply the greater part 
thereof. And they will do it. 

The railroads of the United States are not 
without friends among the business men who 
do not hold salaried positions under the 
various corporations or serve as directors in 
their boards. These men are lovers of fair 
play quite as much as patrons of the trans- 
portation companies. About three years ago, 
when the trend of opinion appeared to be 
hostile to the management of the great trunk 
lines of the country, and when the government 
was equally antagonistic, a group of men 
throughout the country formed what is known 
as the Railway Business Association. These 
gentlemen were largely engaged in supplying 
railroads with their equipment and not only 
paid an average of $250,000,000 in freight 
charges yearly, but furnished employment to 



a million and a hall' of men! The inspiring 
mind in the organization of this association 
was George A. Post, president of the Standard 
Coupler Company, of New York City. The 
Railway Business Association takes very high 
ground regarding railway regulation. So far 
as restrictive legislation is concerned, it makes 
no effort to control the law -making powers ex- 
cept by presentation of facts and figures, sup- 
plemented by argument. Be it remembered 
that a cardinal principle of the Association is 
that "no railroad shall have directly or in- 
directly any voice in its management." Self- 
protection is its claim to existence! It stands 
as the mediator between the railroads and the 
public. The career of George A. Post is an 
interesting one. I have known him since 
1889, w hen we were associated on the World. 
lie was born at Cuba. Allegheny County, 
X. Y., September, 1854; spent his youth at 
Owego, where he received his education 
in the public schools and academy. His 
father. Ira A. Post, was connected with the 
Erie railway fifty years, so that the son's 
natural attraction for railroad business in any 
form is readily explained. He entered the 
service of the Erie in its freight department 
at the aye of IS. then became assistant to the 
superintendent of motive power. Always an 
active Democrat, he was elected Mayor of 
Susquehanna, Pa., when- he was located. He 
was sent to Congress from that district at the 
aye of 28— the youngest member of that body. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



333 



While in the employ of the Erie he gave his 
nights to the study of law and was admitted 
to the bar. He was a delegate to the National 
Convention of 188-1. Mr. Post had been an 
editor and part owner of the Montrose (Pa.) 
Democrat, 1883 to 188!), when he came to 
New York. His loudness for the railroad 
business induced him to accept the vice- 
presidency of the Standard Coupler Company, 
of which he later became president. Mr. 
Post is an excellent speaker, talks with readi- 
ness and always speaks in terms of moderation 
and good humor. One of his speeches at 
Pittsburg acquired national reputation. In 
closing an address upon fair play Mr. Post 
said: "I plead for temperance in the use of 
language on public questions and at the fire- 
side. Some homes are made happy by absti- 
nence from intoxicating drinks; but a thousand- 
fold more owe their joys to kindly words and 
acts. More hearts have been broken by ugly 
words than through inebriety." 

The railroad business is a very Fascinating 
field of endeavor. It makes its appeal espe- 
cially to sons whose fathers have given their 
lives to the work. In nearly every instance 
we find that men take up that work because 
the tang of it is in their blood. This is the 
case with Benjamin Arrowsmith liegeman. 
Jr., who after eleven years of training with 
the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western rail- 
road formed a large company dealing in rail- 
road supplies. I lis father had been traffic 
manager of the same road for many years. 
Mi-. liegeman is not a college graduate. lie 
went to work after leaving the Mt. Wash- 
ington ( Ollegiate Institute, at Fourth and Mac- 
douffal Streets, at the age of seventeen years 
and has been steadily engaged in active busi- 
ness since that day. lie was born in the City 
of New York in 18(i() and early entered the 
public schools. He began as a clerk in the 
freight department and afterwards in the pas- 
senger department and treasurer's office of 
the railroad company with which his father 
was associated. Being offered the position 
of assistant secretary and cashier in the 
Citizens' Mutual Life Insurance Company, he 
spent a year and a half learning that business, 
after which he returned to his first love, 
as General Manager of the Lackawanna 
Live Stock Transportation Company. In 



I legeman 



this branch of the service, Mr 
was eminently successful, developing it to the 
present standard of excellence. The Ameri- 
can Car & Foundry Company of New York 
then made him an oiler to act as its General 
Eastern Sales Agent, but at the end of a year 
and in less than two years he formed the com- 
pany previously mentioned with which he is 
now' the directing mind. Mr. liegeman is not 
only president of the L. S. Metal & Manu- 
facturing (' pany, but also of the Rockland 

Railroad and the Union Lumber Manufac- 
turing Company; he is a trustee of the Ex- 
celsior Savings Bank and a director in several 
large manufacturing companies. In politics 
he is a Republican and has served as Council- 
man and Mayor of North Plainfield, N. J., 
where he resided before he made his permanent 
residence in New York. He is very fond of 
club life and belongs to nine social organiza- 
tions, among which are the Lotos, New York 
Athletic. Republican of New York, and the 
Racquet of Philadelphia. 

Thoroughly experienced in every detail for 

' 1 1 * 

the successful operation of a great trunk line, 
Ralph Peters, president of the Long Island 
Railroad Company, has made that corporation 
one of the best-paying in the country. 

Mr. Peters was born in Atlanta, Ga.> 
November lib 1853, and is of English and 
Scotch extraction. The family was founded 
in America in 1740. by William Peters, who 
was one time commissioner in the colony of 
Pennsylvania. His father was Richard Peters. 
a distinguished engineer and his great-grand- 
father was .Judge Richard Peters, who, after 
the Revolutionary War. attained world-wide 
fame by his lavish entertainments in ^ his 
beautiful mansion at Belmont, now in Fair- 
mount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Ralph Peters graduated from the Univer- 
sity of Georgia in 187-2. with the degree of 
B.A. He at once entered the service of the 
Atlanta Street Railways, and subsequently 
was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad. 
filling many positions of trust. 

Taking hold of the Long Island line, then 
looked upon as a summer excursion railroad, 
Mr. Peters has made it an all-year-round 
proposition and brought the gross earnings 
1 1 1 > to $26,433 per mile per annum. Mr. 



334 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Peters is a member of the Lawyers. Railroad. 
New York Yacht, Garden City and Garden 
City Golf clubs, Sons of the Revolution, Ohio. 
Georgia and Southern societies and Society of 
Colonial Wars in Ohio. 

From farm hoy to financier is a long stretch 
and where obstacles were to be overcome 
at nearly every step the distance is indeed 
lon<'\ This is the accomplishment of George 
Carson Smith and his early struggles must 
stamp him as a self-made man. He was horn 
in Granville, X. Y.. March 4, 1855, the son 



private secretary to Charles M. Croswell, 
then Governor of Michigan. 

He next completed a course in the study 
of law and entered the railway service in 
Texas in 1881, as assistant to the general man- 
ager of the Texas and Pacific and International 
and Great Northern Railways. Upon the es- 
tablishment of the Missouri Pacific system in 
St. Louis, he was made assistant to the senior 
vice-president . 

In rapid succession he became general man- 
Missouri Pacific system: the At- 



ager of tht 




GEORGl C\RSON SMITH 



II! \ A IM \< I 



of Harvey J. and Olivia Cordelia (White) 
Smith, and is of English ancestry on both sides 
of the family. His early education was ob- 
tained at North Hebron Institute, in Wash- 
ington County. X. Y., and Castleton Semi- 
nary. Vermont, his collegiate course being at 
Adrian College. Michigan, from which he 
was graduated in 1877. 

lie defrayed his college expenses by acting 
as instructor in languages, bookkeeper, stenog- 
rapher and as a newspaper correspondent. 
Immediately after graduation he was appointed 



lanla and West Point Railway of Georgia; 
the Western Railway of Alabama and the 
St. Louis-Louisville lines of the Southern 
Railway. 

In !!)(»] he was selected to represent George 
Westinghouse in the various corporations bear- 
ing his name and served as president, vice- 
president or director in a score of Westing- 
house corporations. Retiring from many of 
these companies. Mr. Smith has during the 
past year established new connections in the 
field of construction and finance, becoming 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



J535 



a special partner in the firm of James Stewart 
& Co., of New York. St. Louis and Chicago, 
and representative in New York of the Canada 
Syndicate, Limited, of Montreal and Toronto. 

One of the charming characteristics of man's 
nature is his affection for all graduates of his 
own university. It comes as naturally as the 
affiliations that grow out of relationship. 
There's much in the u/itia mater fondness that 
one Cornell man feels for another. Ira A. 
Place has been one of the most successful grad- 
uates of an institution that has grown in forty- 
three years from nothing to one of the fore- 
most places in American educational ranks. 
He was horn in this city in 1854, hut prepared 
for college at Alfred Academy and took his 
A.B. degree at Cornell in 1881. While at the 
University, he was an editor of The Era, 
Cornellian, and Cornel/ Magazine. lie then 
began the study of law in the office of 
Vann, McLennan cS; Dillaye, Syracuse, and 
was admitted to the bar in Buffalo. lie came 
to Xew York, in October. 1SS:5. with Judge 
McLennan, who had been appointed general 
counsel of the Xew York, West Shore & 
Buffalo Railway Company, prior to its reor- 
ganization as the West Shore railroad. In 
March. 1886, Mr. Place entered the Law 
Department of the New York Central & 
Hudson River Railway Company. So com- 
plete was his success in this post that he was 
appointed general counsel for all Xew \ ork 
Central lines east of Buffalo in 1 !)().">. A year 
later, he was chosen vice-president of the Xew 
York Central lines east of Buffalo, in charge 
of the Law Department and of the Land 
and Tax Department. Mr. Place is a 
trustee of Cornell University; likewise pres- 
ident of the Cornellian Council and Cornell 
University Club of Xew York City. At 
the university, he was a Phi Beta Kappa 
and a Psi Upsilon man. In politics, he is a 
Democrat; in religion, he is a Unitarian. 
Among the clubs to which he belongs are the 
University, Transportation, Cornell, St. An- 
drews Golf, Adirondack League and Unita- 
rian of Xew York and Fort Orange of Albany. 

Mr. Place is a director in a score or more 
of railroads, coal companies and other corpo- 
rations, among which may be mentioned: The 
Carthage. Watertown & Sackett's Harbor 



Railroad, Tivoli Hollow Railroad, Troy Union 
Railroad Company, Little Falls & Dolgeville 
Railroad Company, Detroit. Monroe & 'Toledo 
Railroad Company, Xew York & Ottawa 
Bridge Company, Cornwall Bridge Company, 
Buffalo Erie Basin Railroad Company, Cen- 
tral Dock & Terminal Railway Company, Fair 
Land Realty Company, Gallitzin Coal&Coke 
Company, Gouverneur & Oswegatchie Rail- 
road Company, Xew Jersey Junction Railroad 
Company. Xew Jersey Shore Line Railroad 
Company, New York Central Niagara River 
Railroad ('onipany, Niagara Falls Branch 
Railroad Company, Spuyten Duvvil & Port 
Morris Railroad Company, Wallkill Valley 
Railroad Company, and Xew York & Fort 
Lee Railroad Company. IK' is president of 
the Central Dock & Terminal Railway Com- 
pany, and of the Fair Land Realty Company. 

A railroad man who has risen from the 
ranks to one of the highest offices in this 
country is William Johnson Ilarahan. born 
at Nashville, Tenn., December, 1867, of 
Scotch-Irish parents, whose ancestors were 
settlers in the West. He was educated at the 
public schools and at St. John's College. New 
Orleans. Before attaining his majority he 
entered the service of the Louisville & Nash- 
ville railroad -attached to the superintend- 
ent's office in Xew Orleans. He advanced 
rapidly, becoming an assistant engineer in 
ISSi); but. a year later, he resigned to accept 
the post of division engineer on the Chesa- 
peake & Ohio railroad. Thence he went to 
the Baltimore & ( )hio Southwestern. He then 
joined the Illinois Central and in 1896 was 
made superintendent of the Louisville division. 
holding that place until 1901, when he be- 
came chief engineer of the entire system and 
assistant general manager. After fifteen years 
continuous service, Mr. Harahan retired from 
the Illinois Central to accept the vice-presi- 
dency of the Erie railroad. 

Improvement in rolling stock on American 
railroads, especially the substitution of steel 
for wood in the manufacture of passenger 
cars, is largely due to the energy and inventive 
genius of a few young men. Among these 
must be mentioned Frederick Ileber Eaton, 
president of the American Car & Foundry 
Co., which office he has held since 1902. Mr. 



336 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Eaton is a Pennsylvania!] by birth, having 
for his native town Berwick and the date of 
his birth April. 1863. He was educated at 
the public schools and has engaged in manu- 
facturing ever since he was seventeen years of 
aye. Mr. Eaton is a director of the Columbia 
Trust Company, Seaboard National Bank. 
Mutual Life Insurance Company, Inter-Ocean 
Steel Company, the lloyt & Weedin Manu- 
facturing Company, and several other corpora- 
tions and railroads. He belongs to the Cham- 
ber of Commerce and the Union League, 
Metropolitan, Ardsley and \. Y. Athletic clubs 
of this city. He was chosen a McKinley 
elector for the State of Pennsylvania in 1896. 
He has a city residence and a country place, 
"Hillcrest," in Berwick. Mr. Eaton is a 
lover of books and a member of several his- 
torical societies. He conies of Revolutionary 
ancestry and is naturally proud of the fact. 

Thomas E. Oakes, now living in .Yew York 
City, is one of the real '* Builders of the West." 
He was associated with some of the great en- 
terprises of that part of the country and carried 
out his part with credit and distinction. 

Born in Massachusetts, about sixty-seven 
or sixty-eight years ago. where he was edu- 
cated at the public schools, young Oakes 
turned early to the West and got into the 
battle of life by becoming associated with rail- 
road contractors on the old Kansas Pacific 
in '(>:{. Ten years later we find him as pur- 
chasing agent of the road and he advanced 
rapidly until ten years later he was made gen- 
eral superintendent. He was afterward con- 
nected with the Kansas City. Fort Scott and 
Gulf R. R.. and the Kansas City. Lawrence 
and Southern R. R. in the same capacity as 
general superintendent, which positions occu- 
pied his time until 1880 when he became Vice- 
President and General Manager of Oregon 
Railway and Navigation Company, with head- 
quarters in the city of Portland. Ore. 

The Northern Pacific was the next road to 
command Mr. Oakes' services. He was suc- 
cessively Vice-President, General Manager, 
President and Receive] - of this great system 
during the years of 1881-1896. 

Mr. Oakes now makes his home at the Plaza 
Hotel, New York City, but enjoys most at 



present the pleasures of a well-appointed farm 
at Concord, Mass., within call of his boyhood 
home. 

Prominent among the men who have fig- 
ured in the commercial development of New 
York City during the last quarter of a century 
is William H. Woolverton, president of the 
National Railway Publication Company, pub- 
lishers of the Official Railway Guide. 

Mr. Woolverton was born in the State of 
Indiana, but was taken, when very young, to 
Pennsylvania, the family locating in the town 
of Alexandria. His preliminary education 
was secured in the country schools near his 
home, but it was not until he had started on 
his business career that he found the oppor- 
tunity of broadening his mind and educating 
himself in the branches necessary for his 
battle with the world. 

When a boy he studied telegraphy, working 
side by side with Andrew Carnegie. Thomas 
M. Carnegie, Thomas T. Eckert and David 
II. Bates, and the companionship of those 
early days developed into friendships that 
were life-long in duration. At this period 
Mr. Woolverton was an employee of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Company, and in this ca- 
pacity he was transferred to Philadelphia, 
where he remained for several years, filling 
many responsible positions. 

It was forty-four years ago in the Quaker 
City that the Official Railway Guide was 
started. Mr. Woolverton and several other 
railroad men were the organizers of the pub- 
lishing company. Many difficulties were en- 
countered and it was not until the publication 
had been removed to New York City that 
success was assured and the Guide came to 
be recognized as indispensable to the traveling 
public and of inestimable value to railway 
officials. Mr. Woolverton has been for years 
the president of the company, succeeding 
Henry W. Gwinner, the first president, who 
retired twenty-seven years ago. Upon enter- 
ing the business world of New York City. 
Mr. Woolverton at once became interested in 
many corporations and was one of the organ- 
izers of the Bell Telephone Company, now the 
New York Telephone Company, of which he 
is still a director. In 1878 seven men under- 
took the installation of that service. The 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



337 



telephone was then almost unknown and the 
venture did not look flattering at that time, 
but the organizers were men who could see a 
long distance ahead and they persisted in the 
work, in spite of all obstacles, and to-day the 
company's triumphant success testifies to 
their keen judgment and indomitable will. 
Of the men who brought this important work 
to perfection l>ul two remain, Mr. Woolverton 




WILLIAM II. \\i lOLVERTON 

and Theodore Newton Vail, now president 
of the company. In addition to being presi- 
dent of the National Railway Publication 
Company, Mr. Woolverton is ;it the head of 
the New York Transfer Company, which 
operates Dodd's Express, and he tills ;i similar 
position with the Gamewell Fire Alarm Tele- 
graph Company. This company's service is 
used in residences, stores, industrial estab- 
lishments and by municipalities in over 1,500 



cities in the United States and Canada, and 
has also been installed in South America, 
South Africa, (Jreal Britain, Germany, Manila 
and the Sandwich Islands. It had its incep- 
tion in (he electric lire-alarm signal which 
John N. Gamewell installed in Boston in 
1851. During the Civil War. the business 
made little progress and it was not until Mr. 
Woolverton became interested in the com- 
pany thai it started on its successful career. 

During all these years the Gamewell Com- 
pany has not failed lo recognize and secure 
every possible improvement so that to-day 
its service is as near perfection as is possible 
to make an electrical system. 

In this work. Mr. Woolverton's ability and 
foresight are shown. He took hold of the 
Gamewell Company when it was in its in- 
cipiency and non-productive: and recognizing 
its vast possibilities turned it into a fire-pre- 
venting, fire-loss decreasing and life-saving in- 
stitution. A fraction of time often saves heavy 
loss and many lives when a big conflagration 
threatens. This the Gamewell system does. 

Mi'. Woolverton is also president of the 
Alexandria. Pa., Water Company, American 
Railway Supply Company, Gamewell Auxil- 
iary Fire Alarm Company. He is vice-presi- 
dent of the Manhattan Fire Alarm Company 
and the Police Telephone and Signal Com- 
pany, treasurer of the Iron Steamboat Com- 
pany of Xew Jersey, treasurer of the New 
Jersey Navigation Company and a director in 
the American Railway Guide Company, the 
Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Com- 
pany, Holmes Electric Protective Company, 
New York Telephone Company and the Union 
Transfer Company of Philadelphia. Pa. 

Mr. Woolverton is a Republican in national 
politics, but in state and municipal affairs he 
is always found on the side of the best man. 
regardless of party affiliations. 

He is a member of the Union League, the 
New York Athletic, the Railroad and Lotos 
clubs. 

The United States has in notable cases sup- 
plied the genius of initiative to two important 
South American countries. I have already 
spoken of Theodore X. Nail's achievements 
at Buenos Ayres, Argentina; but a more re- 
cent champion of the destinies of the adjacent 



338 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



republic of Brazil has arisen in the person of 
Perciva] Farquhar, who may be accurately 
described as "the E. II. Harriman of South 
America." He is doing for Brazil cpiite as 
much as Cecil J. Rhodes did for South Africa, 
although he is a republic developer, rather 
than an empire builder! Being born, dyed- 
in-the-wool lover of democracy, he has no 
liking for imperialism. Mr. Farquhar's career 
is a fascinating one. He comes of Maryland 
stock, but was born at York. Pa., October, 
1N<;+. Little more than a year previously, 
Lee's army had swept through that part of 
Pennsylvania, until checked at Gettysburg. 
Arthur B. Farquhar. father of the future finan- 
cier, was a manufacturer of agricultural ma- 
chinery in York —a business that has grown 
into the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works, of 
which A. B. Farquhar is chief. In its office. 
young Percival received his commercial train- 
ing. He had passed through Yale Univer- 
sity, taking highest honors of his class. 1SS4. 
In addition to the Arts course, he specialized 
in engineering, and followed his stay at ^ ale 
by a two years' attendance at Columbia Law 
School, in this city. 

Thus equipped, Percival Farquhar came to 
Xew York to grapple the problem of success! 
A fondness for economics had been inherited 
from his father, not only a student of political 
economy but a writer on the subject. It was 
quite impossible, therefore, for the young man 
to keep out of politics. He joined the Demo- 
cratic organization of his Assembly District 
and took an active part in its deliberations. 
lie had not contemplated seeking office, but 
was nominated for the Assembly and elected. 

Meanwhile, he had been studying the pros- 
pects of railway development in Brazil. After 
making an extended visit to the region south- 
west and northwest of Rio de Janeiro, Mr. 
Farquhar went to Europe and laid before 
London and Paris bankers, various proposi- 
tions for financing a vast international railway 
system for South America. In a short time, 
Mr. Farquhar organized the Brazil Railway 
Company, which to-day owns, or controls by 
lease, 3.101 miles of road in operation, and 
has under construction 1,818 additional miles. 
His ambition was to combine under one sys- 
tem the lines of steel road serving the southern 



part of the State of Sao Paulo and the States 
of Parana, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande 
do Sul. from the Atlantic coast to their west- 
ern borders. When the extensions under con- 
struction are finished, the so-called "Farquhar 
system" will extend from Sao Paulo — the cap- 
ital of the state of similar name, having a 
population of 1,500,000 and the important 
port of Santos, from which it is distant about 
40 miles — to the frontiers of Uruguay and 
Paraguay. Its own lines ami connections 
will open up the vast and now inaccessible 
State of Matto Grosso as far as the Bolivian 
border. It is well-nigh impossible for me. in 
an article of this length, to give a reader an 
accurate conception of the magnitude of the 
work that Percival Farquhar has accomplished 
and that he contemplates achieving in the im- 
mediate future. Several hundred millions of 
American ami European money are enlisted 
in the development of the heretofore inacces- 
sible resources of the largest country of the 
South American continent! The Amazon 
route has been fairly well explored; the shores 
of that mighty river are generally marshy ami 
its fevers are deadly. Mr. Farquhar, on the 
other hand, has chosen to exploit one of the 
most healthy, salubrious districts on earth. 
If is a storehouse of arboreal, mineral and 
agricultural wealth. Santos, the port of Sao 
Paulo, is a city of 20,000 inhabitants and ranks 
second only to Rio as a coffee-shipping port. 
Sao Paulo is a fine, largely modern city of 
SO. 000 people, within half a day's journey of 
Rio de Janeiro by the Central Brazil Railway 
— a distance of about 230 miles. 

Percival Farquhar, as President of the 
Brazil Railway Company, has under his im- 
mediate control the following lines: Soroca- 
bana Railway, in the State of Sao Paulo. 813 
miles in operation and 268 miles under con- 
struction: the Sao Paulo-Rio Grande Rail- 
way, traversing Parana and Santa Catharina 
already for 010 miles, with 1,550 miles under 
construction: the Parana Railway, all in the 
State of that name, operating 258 miles; the 
Thereza Christina Railway, 72 miles; the 
Cie. Auxiliaire de Chemins de Fer au Brazil, 
operating 1,348 miles. The Brazil Railway 
Company possesses large holdings in and im- 
portant traffic arrangements with the Mog- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



;«9 



yana Railway, 926 miles, and the Paulista 
line of 715 miles, a total length of 1,641 miles. 
Three other lines, with a mileage of 1,468, 
cooperate with the Brazil Company. 

The vast region reached by the Brazil rail- 
ways is an area of table-lands, called chapadoes, 
having elevations of 1,000 to 3,000 feet, and 
is in every respect the best pari of Brazil. 
The climate is temperate, it contains the most 
fertile lands in the republic, its forests are of 
the finest commercial woods and its rainfall 
is regular. Already a large lumber company 
has been organized and millions of feet of 
mahoganies and other fine woods are coming 
to this and foreign markets from the mills. 

This is only a small part of what might be 
written about the Farquhar activities. The 
man himself is President and Director of the 
Brazil Railway Co.. Bahia Tramway, Light 
& Power Co.. Madeira-Mamore Railway Co., 
Port of Para, Para Construction Co., Brazil 
Land. Cattle & Packing Co. and Southern 
Brazil Lumber Co.. and First Vice-President 
of the Sorocabana Railway Co. Evidently, 
Percival Farquhar believes this to be an age 
of men of affairs! His clubs in New York 
are the Metropolitan. Lawyers" and National 
Democratic, and Metropolitan of Washington. 

Elsewhere I have briefly sketched the de- 
velopment of the telegraph system of the 
United States. Like every other line of busi- 
ness, it has been greatly 
improved by competi- 
tion, the public has 
been better served and 
this very rivalry has de- 
veloped one of the won- 
derful stories of modern 
invention. One of the 
men who has contrib- 
uted a large part to the 
marvelous growth of 
telegraphy in this coun- 
try is Charles C. 
Adams, second vice- 
president of the Postal 
Telegraph Company. 
the 




rhrough 



energy 



and indefatigable application of such men as 
he is. the art of telegraphy has become in the 
last half century a national utility of first im- 



portance. Mr. Adams was born at Freeport, 
Pa.. August, 1858, acquired his early educa- 
tion in the Pittsburg public schools and took a 
brief course at the Sharpest >urg Academy. 
lie promptly became an operator for the West- 
ern Union Company. Next I Hud him as 
Associated Press telegraphist at Fort Wayne. 
When the Mutual Union Company was or- 
ganized, he was selected as the manager of its 
Pittsburg office, but after its merger with the 
Western Union he entered newspaper service 
in Pittsburg and soon returned to .Yew York. 
He joined the Postal Telegraph Company in 
1SS4 as manager at Philadelphia. Thence 
his rise has been steadily upward. lie came 
to Yew York, 1904, to become a vice-president 
of the Postal Company. His clubs are the 
Lotos and the National Geographic Society. 
lie is a director in about thirty subordinate 
companies of the Postal. 

One of the prominent shipping merchants 
of this city who has devoted an active career 
to correcting abuses in commercial trans- 
actions is F d w a nl 
Wa I'd Vanderbilt. 
One of his brill i a n t 
successes was securing 
the abrogation of the 
tonnage I a \ aga i nst 
American vessels that 
Spain had been levy- 
ing for more than 
a ge tie rat ion. Mr. 
^ anderbilt was born 
near the Battery. As 
soon as the Civil War 
closed, he formed a 
firm for sending packet 
ships to Georgetown, 
( 'ha rleston, Savannah 
and Jacksonville; next he enlarged his con- 
nections and sent packets to Corpus Christi, 
Texas. Acquiring an interest in Bentlv, Mil- 
ler & Co. and other firms until IS?!), he formed 
the house of Vanderbilt & Hopkins and took 
contracts for supplying lumber for railroads. 
He then took over the entire business and 
launched the house of F. W. Vanderbilt, which 
is still thriving. Mr. Vanderbilt is a veteran 
of the Civil War and independent in politics 
He is especially proud of having destroyed the 




EDWARD W. VANDERBILT 



340 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



"sailors' lawyers" a gang of shysters that 
shipped men for the purpose of prosecuting 
captains of sailing vessels on the charge of 
abuse while at sea. Such charges, he found, 
were chiefly made to extort money and were 
groundless. 

Among the self-made men who have place 
in this volume none is more worthy of men- 
tion than John Nemeth, born in Garadna, 

Hungary, Nov.. 1861. 
Alter securing the ad- 
vantages of excellent 
schools of his native 
land, he came to this 
country in 1887 and 
opened a general sup- 
ply store at Hazelton, 
Pa. He was induced to 
go to that locality be- 
cause so many of his 
fellow countrymen were 
there employed as min- 
ers. His business de- 
veloped into that of 
f o r e i g n money ex- 
change and the sale of 
In 1901 Mr. Nemeth 
transferred his business to this city, where 
he is agent for all trans-Atlantic steamship 
lines. Recently he introduced a successful 
cable system of transmitting money to Hun- 
gary at the reduced cost of .)<> cents for each 
transfer, sending any sum to any place. He 
has handled in this way several hundred thou- 
sand dollars without mishap. He is a Demo- 
crat. Mr. Nemeth is naturally proud of the 
fact that he arrived in this country at 1!). 
absolutely friendless, without a knowledge 




JOHN NEMETH 



steamship tickets. 



of the English language, with small capital, 
and has attained a position of affluence and of 
public esteem. 

The coal business occupies so large a place 
in the domestic economy of every household 
that all of us are nterested in the identities 

of the men who super- 
intend the extraction of 
"black diamonds" from 
the earth and regulate 
their shipment to mar- 
ket. Prominent among 
these is Richard Theo- 
dore Davies, general 
coal agent of the Le- 
high Coal & Naviga- 
tion Company, one of 
the largest producers of 
anthracite. Mr. Davies 
was born at Buffalo, 
N. Y.. October. 1S50- 
being a direct descend- 
K "" AKI " DAVIS ant, in the sixth genera- 

tion, from Sir Francis Pemberton, Lord Chief 
Justice of the King's Bench (KiSO), who pre- 
sided at the trial of Lord Russell for the "Rye 
House Plot." He was educated in the public 
schools. For .'51 years he has represented 
the oldest anthracite coal mining company in 
the United States in this city and now has 
charge of the sales department, with offices 
here and in Philadelphia, lie is a trustee of 
the Dry Dock Savings Institution; treasurer 
and secretary of the Society of Mechanics and 
Tradesmen; first vice-president of the Empire 
State Society. S. A. R.. and treasurer of its 
Pennsylvania Society: a life member of the 
New England Society. His clubs are the 
Union League, Railroad and Meridian. 





THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



S41 



CHAPTER XXVI 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW YOliK PLAYHOUS1 




ARLV in this volume, I have 
mentioned the scarcity of high- 
class theatres in 1870, when I 
first began to study the amuse- 
ment question. Wallack's and 
Booth's exhausted the list — al- 
though Samuel N. Pike had started out to 
create a rival to the Academy of Music in 
Italian opera. Pike was the Hammerstein 
of his day. Niblo's was given over to the 
spectacular — presenting "The Black Crook" 
and Lydia Thompson's blonde maidens — the 
Olympic soon became the home of pantomime, 
with George L. Fox as "Humpty Dumpty." 
The old Academy was wholly devoted to 
grand opera and the great balls of the winter 
especially the annual French ball, one of which, 
of a later vintage and at the Madison Square 
Garden, is described herein. The Theatre 
( omique was a variety show — would have been 
described as "vaudeville" in these days. 

The Grand Opera House deserves more than 
mere mention. The building had been erected 
by S. X. Pike of Cincinnati, — before or soon 
after his own house in that city had been 
destroyed by fire — and was opened, in January, 
186\8. as a rival home of Italian opera. It 
cost about $1, 000. 000, which was an eye- 
opener for metropolitan managers. They were 
amazed that a man from the West should 
lavish so much money on an amusement 
palace. It was built to seat 2,000 people. 
but during the furore that welcomed Tostee 
and Inna. it often held more than .'5,000. 

Jay Gould and James Fisk, Jr., got posses- 
sion of the property, with the money of the 
Erie railway, in 18(H). and changed its name 
from Pike's to the Grand. A few Shakes- 
peare plays were produced. Then followed 
the remarkable seasons of French opera, one 
after another, that did more to make this city 
cosmopolitan than anything theatrical. ( )pera 
Bouffe, with Carlo Patti as musical director. 



ruled for several years. The first woman 
of this stellar world I recall is Montaland. The 
year 1871 brought to us the adorable Marie 
Aimee. as "Boulotte" in "Barhe Bleue." 
Her great hit was made in "La Perichole," 
quite new here, and one of the best bits of 
comedy acting ever seen on the American lyric 
stage was Aimee's rendering of the drinking 
song in that operetta. There were other 
clever French women, but I don't care to re- 
member them. Aimee died of cancer in 
Paris. October v 2. 1887, and was buried from 
her little home at Nogent sur Marne. I was 
in Paris. Many sad memories stirred my 
breast as Albert Wolff. C. I. Barnard and I, 
as the only mourners, followed Aimee's body 
to the grave along a muddy road. Ah. yes; 
there was another mourner— a small girl of 
about 12 years, who was in dire distress but 
whose relation to the dead prima donna we 
did not know. 

The first time I saw Lester Wallack was 
in May, 1871, when he played "Eliott Gray" 
and John Gilbert "Miles McKenna" in 
"Uosedale." 1 witnessed 'The Long 
Strike," with Effie Germon and J. II. Stod- 
dart in the cast. In the fall of that year, I saw 
Charles Fetcher for the only time in "The 
Lady of Lyons." with Lizzie Price as "Paul- 
ine." Charles Matthews came over not long 
after and I never shall forget him in "The 
( ritic." and " London Assurance." Although 
I afterwards saw him in London in ha I fa dozen 
roles he did not seem so clever over there; 
he appeared to repress himself for English 
audiences. The same thing was noticeable 
in John E. Clarke. I cannot forget Ada 
Dyas, in "The Romance of a Poor Young 
Man." with II. J. Montague in the leading 
part. Then followed the wonderful "Shaugh- 
raun." with its all-star cast: Montague. Jef- 
freys Lewis. J. B. Polk. John Gilbert, Harry 
Beckett, W. J. Leonard. E. M. Holland. Ada 



342 



THE BOOK nf NEW YORK 



Dyas, Mine. Ponisi and Dion Boucicault, 
author of the play, as "Conn." Steele Mac- 
kaye made his first appearance at Wallack's 
on January 22, 1877, in "All For Her." The 
subsequent contributions of this man's work 
on the New York stage were marvelous— 
greater than any others except Augustin Daly 
and David Belasco. Lester Wallack I saw 
up to that never-to-be-forgotten benefit night 
at the Metropolitan Opera House (May 25, 
1SSS). when he received the most triumphant 
tribute ever given to an American actor. He 
appeared before the curtain, in evening dress, 
and spoke a few words of thanks. The play 
was '"Hamlet." with Booth in flic title role. 
Joseph Jefferson as "First Grave Digger" 
and \Y. J. Florence as his mate. Lawrence 
Barrett was "Ghost," Modjeska was the 
"Ophelia"; the "Horatio" of John A. Lane 
was excellent. Equally interesting was the 
wonderful audience of nearly 4.000 people. 
1 sat in the front row. between Gen. Sickles 
and John Russell Young. Recorder Smyth 
and General Sherman were a few rows behind 
us. So was Joseph Howard, Jr. Walter 
Damrosch had the Symphony Society of New 
York about him as orchestra. The picture 
presented during the court scene, when not 
only principals hut all auxiliaries were grouped 
upon the stage left a mental vision that cannot 
be effaced by time. The management was 
solely in the hands of A. M. Palmer and the 
net receipts were $21,600. 

In writing of the occasion in next day's 
Graphic, Joseph Howard, Jr. said: •■Next to 
John Russell Young sat a pale, blue-eyed, 
nervous-mannered, young man. I thought 
as he walked quietly to his seat how many 
toadies, flatterers, social flapdoodles there 
weie on both sides of him, as he passed along 
the aisle, who would have made haste to do 
him honor had they known who and what he 
is. Julius Chambers, Managing Editor of the 
New York Herald, is nobody's fool. He is 
thirty-seven years of age, as genuine in heart 
as he is square in look. He is not a time 
server. He is faithful to his trust; he takes 
orders from his chief as soldiers take them. 
A man without malice, without jealousy. 
without envy, without self conceit a model 
managing editor." I hope to be pardoned 
for using this brief paragraph, because Mr. 



Howard's opinion was not the universal one. 
by a long way. A certain number of enemies 
had to be made, were made and venomous 
tongues loosed. 

My next vivid recollection of Wallack's is 
Steele Mackave's "Won at Last." in 1S?<S, 
proving that players can write plays. Charles 
F. Coghlan came to the surface about this 
time. In the year following appeared Ada 
Cavendish and Henry Lee. About that time, 
I first recall Maurice Barrymore, already well 
known in Philadelphia. 'The first time I saw 
Boucicault and Wallack together on the stage 
was at a matinee, March 17, 1880, for the 
Herald's Irish Famine I-'und. George Con- 
quest, whom I had known in London and often 
met at the Junior Garrick club, came over for 
a Summer season in "extravaganza"; he was 
to have played five parts. On the first night, 
Conquest fell and broke a leg and the whole 
business went to smash. He was not nearly 
so clever an acrobat as Francis Wilson of a 
later period. The nexl new blood at Wal- 
lack's I recall was Osmond Tearle in 1881. 
Wallack retired in July of that year. That 
was the end of the real Wallack's Theatre. 

After two years as a German playhouse it 
was re-christened the Star and Boucicault. 
Barton Hill and Lawrence Barrett appeared. 
Here Henry [rving made his American debut, 
October 29, 1883, in "The Bells." I had 
seen Irving in London in everything he did 
up to that time. 

The theatre on Broadway, near Thirtieth 
Street, honored with Wallack's name is chiefly 
sacred to Adelaide Risloii, Mr. and Mrs. 
Florence, Robson and Crane, and Mary 
Anderson— who appeared as "Galatea" in 
a curtain raiser to "As You Like It." with 
Forbes Robertson as "Pygmalion." About 
this time the Polish marvel, Modjeska, flashed 
upon this theatrical sky. Then Robert B. 
Mantell and Fanny Davenport in "Fedora." 
Wilson Barrett, an English actor of great 
promise, but of unsatisfactory performance, 
dropped in. Booth was heard a week later. 
Irving came again in 1SSS, and a year after, 
on the same stage. (! ) Lydia Thompson. 

A playhouse with a brief but brilliant his- 
tory was the Park, on Broadway, near Twenty- 
second Street. William Stuart was manager 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



343 



with Charles Fechter, flic marvelous, as stage 
manager. It opened April, IS? 4. in ;i French 
adaptation; in September, John T. Raymond 
began his run of 11!) performances in "The 
Gilded Age." I remember the Florences in 
'The Mighty Dollar." A sad recollection 
is the appearance of Ex-Mayor A. Oakey Hall 
in his own play, "The Crucible." 

Booth's theatre had been opened before 
my coming to this city (February .'!. 1869, 
I think) with "Romeo" by Booth and Mary 
McVicker as "Juliet." The greatest event I 
witnessed at Booth's was Charlotte < ashman's 
farewell, in the fall of 1874, when she played 
"Lady Macbeth," with George Vandenhoff 
in the title part. She made a pretty bul very 
sad speech before the curtain — there was not a 
dry eye in the audience. Booth I saw in 
nearly every one of his Shakespearian roles. 
After Booth gave up the playhouse, it was 
successively managed by Maurice Grau and 
Henry E. Abbey, each equally unsuccessful. 
There it was I first beheld the radiant Adelaide 
Nielson in "As You Like It." The building 
was sold at auction in February, 1883. 

The Union Square theatre was a monument 
to Sheridan Shook. It opened September 11. 
1871, and to this hour it is sacred to the mem- 
ories of Agnes Ethel, 1). 11. Barkens, Mark 
Smith, F. F. Mackay, Clara Jennings, Maud 
Granger. Kate Claxton, Charles R. Thorne, 
Jr., Stuart Robson, Marie Wilkins, Clara 
Morris, Rose Eytinge, Fanny Morant (of 
Wallack days). C. F. Coghlan, Agnes Booth. 
the lovely Sara Jewett — of "Wyndecott," 
Pigeon Cove. Mass., where I once visited her — 
Linda Dietz, Fanny Davenport, Zelda Seguin, 
Charles Fisher and Louis Aldrich. Later. 
we had Eugenic' Legrand, then the wife of 
Kyrle Bellew (afterwards to become so popu- 
lar here as a leading man. bul then unknown), 
E. F. Thorne, Charles Wyndhaiii, Annie 
Pixley, Nelson Wheatcroft, Tyrone Bower, 
W. II. Crane, Agnes Huntington and a score 
of other people who earned fame. 

Augusfin Daly's career as manager began 
December 3, 1873, when he opened the New 
Fifth Avenue Theatre, at Broadway and 
Twenty-eighth Street. He gathered one of 
the strongest companies ever seen in America. 



Apparently, he look the best from the other 
managers. He had been dramatic critic on 
the I 'nucs and every new spa per man took pride 
in his project. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes 
wrote an opening address that Fanny Morant 
delivered admirably. Daly's firs! play. "For- 
tune," was a failure; then followed a series of 
adaptations until Bionson Howard appeared 
in September, L875, with "Saratoga." a 
play at which Howard had been working when 
I lirst knew him on the Tribune and estab- 
lished the house on a [laying basis. "Dia- 
monds" and other plays by Howard followed. 
I witnessed the first presentation of "John 
Moorcroft," a failure, because the prejudices 
of the people of the North against slaverx 
were still rife. After Daly moved to the 
Wood Museum building at Thirtieth Street, 
his career as manager was a grand triumph. 
Many immortal names belonging to the New 
York stage are on the Daly roll. I would have 
to repeat nearly the entire Wallack and Union 
Square list. In addition should lie added 
George Clarke, Louis .lames and .lames 
Lewis — who, with Mrs. G. II. Gilbert, made 
the best old couple ever seen on any stage 
Charles Fisher, W. Davidge, George Parkes, 
Nellie Mortimer, Ada Rehan, Nina Varian 
and Minnie ( onway. 

The Lyceum theatre, which was to estab- 
lish the reputation of Daniel Frohnian as a 
manager, owed its inception to the versatile 
Steele Mackaye. With the exception of the 
Belasco theatres that have succeeded it. the 
Lyceum was the expiring breath of the stock 
company playhouse. In saying this. I am 
not overlooking the New Theatre episode of 
1910-'ll which lasted for exactly one season. 
The Lyceum was opened April <>. 1885, by 
Mackaye with his own play. "Dakolar." 
In September, Daniel Frohnian took the lease 
and produced Mackaye's verson of Gardon's 
"Andrea." with Minnie Madden, Eben Plym- 
ton. Richard Mansfield and Selina Dolaro in 
the leading parts. Helen Dauvray got Bron- 
son Howard to write a play for her, look a 
lease of the house and the play, "One of Our 
Girls" had a 200-nighl run. With that fine 
record of success. Miss Dauvray retired from 
management. 



:U4 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Daniel Frohman took hold for good when 
the regular season of 1886 began. Success 
attended him until January, 1887, when 
Bronson Howard's "Met by Chance" was 
elaborately produced, but proved a dismal 
failure. Miss Dauvray returned to the stage 
and scored success after success. E. II. 
Sothern. Enid Leslie. Ellic Wilton. Alexander 
Salvini, Ida Vernon. W. A. Eaversham. Henry 
Miller and Herbert Kelcev were among the 
new or revived names. Here, at the end of 
October, 1887, we hear of David Belasco and 
Henry C. De Mille collaborating in a play 
called "The Wife." In the Winter of that 
year, the Lyceum stock company took per- 
manent form. 'The Wife " ran 239 perform- 
ances. Belasco and De Mille reappeared as 
joint authors of" Lord Chum lev." It ran about 
two and one-half months. After fair success 
for two seasons, the house was opened for 
the season of 1889-'90 with another Belasco 
and De Mille play, "The Charity Ball." In 
the cast were most of the old favorites, hut 
the run of the play is famed for the appearance 
at that theatre of Henrietta Crossman. 'The 
Charity Ball" had 200 representations. The 
season of 1891-'92 opened with a play by 
Henry Arthur Jones. "The Dancing Girl," with 
E. IL Sothern at the head of the list and 
Virginia Harned in a soubrette part. Mar- 
guerite Merrington's first attempt at play- 
writing, "Lettarblair," was produced in the 
fall of 1891, at a special authors' matinee. 
Georgia Cayvan, Bessie Tyree and Effie 
Shannon came into the Lyceum fold about 
this time. A constant succession of new plays 
appeared. Paul Potter's "Sheridan" was de- 
lightful — done September, 1893. Revivals of 
former successes and new plays were the 
feature of this house. Isabel Irving was 
next new blood. Sothern. Kelcev. Le Movne. 
Isabel Irving. Elizabeth Tyree, Elita Proctor 
Otis. Mrs. Thos. Whiffen, Virginia Harned 
and all other favorites were constantly seen. 
A new leading man appeared in 1 Si)!); Charles 
I. Richman. Clara Bloodgood and Robert 
Edeson were recruited about this same time. 
The fate of the building had been decreed 
by a life insurance company that wanted the 
entire block and the end came in March, 1902. 

The new Lyceum in West Forty-fifth Street 



is everything a theatre ought to be. Its career 
is so recent and so brilliant that no words are 
needed from me. The memories of the old 
Lyceum are still lustrous. 

Charles Frohman, like his brother Daniel. 
began his career in a daily newspaper office 
in New York. It was an afternoon journal, 
the Graphic; therefore he sold tickets at 
Iloolev's theatre, Brooklyn, at night. I first 
knew him with "Jack" Ilaverlv's "Mastodon 
Minstrels." and have always believed him to 
be the inventor of the phrase "Count them!" 
which became popular bywords. When 
the Haverlv band marched upon the stage, 
each person in the audience read this legend, 
painted upon the bass drum: "Fifty per- 
formers! Count them!" Everybody did as 
ordered and found the troup to exceed sixty! 
It was easy to get ten or more men in plain 
clothes to appear for the price of an admission. 
Charles Frohman took Ilaverlv's Ministrels 
to Europe, where they outdrew Moore & 
Burgess in London. Success came thick and 
fast, after that. In 1890 the Charles Frohman 
stock company was organized; but the so- 
called trust was soon after formed, giving to 
its manager a string of playhouses across the 
Continent. In association with Al. Ilavman. 
Charles Frohman manages ten theatres in this 
city and. individually, two in London. 

The rise of David Belasco to eminence as 
a manager was achieved by determined effort, 
lie was schooled in the College of Hard 
Knocks, so far as the dramatic profession 
is concerned. He made several successes in 
playw riting, as we have seen. I first met the 
handsome young man about INN?, at one of 
Mis. Frank Leslie's receptions. That was 
before his hair had acquired its present snowy 
whiteness. It was during that long period 
between "Lord Chuniley" and the brilliant 
scries of plays that in 1895 signalized his 
advent as a manager — beginning with "The 
Heart of Maryland" and by no means ending 
with "The Girl of the Golden West." It is a 
spare season in which one or two Belasco 
plays are not produced, generally with large 
financial success. 

The afterwards famous Madison Square 
theatre was originally opened by Heller, the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



:; 15 




DAVID BELASCl I 

magician, but in 1879, Steele Mackaye, with 
the backing of Mr. Mallory, built "the first 
and only double stage in the world" — a record 
unbroken to date -and opened under the 
above name. The importance of the event 
is due to the rise of the actor to management. 
Here, later, was the home of Charles Hoyt's 
farce-comedies, lint Mackaye was not idle 
while his new theatre was getting ready. 
'The Iron Will" was produced at the South 
Broad Street theatre in Philadelphia, Novem- 
ber 4, IN?!), and 1 was present. An old 
miller, with an adamantine heart, was played 
by C. W. Couldock; his sole object in life was 
to prevent his daughter, Hazel, from marrying 
the man of her choice. Dainty Effie Ellsler 
was the much-thwarted maiden; human in- 
terest was expected to centre in the cruel parent. 
One representation was sufficient to show that 
the girl was the feature of the play. At a 
luncheon to which Mackaye invited me next 
dav. 1 made that point and insisted that the 
name side-tracked the audience. When the 
melodrama was brought to this city, its name 
was "Hazel Kirke." and it ran here for 200 
performances. Daniel Frohman, who had 
been attached to the Tribune when I was there, 
was business manager for Mackaye. I shall 



not attempt to recall all the plays and players 
of that snug little house. 1 remember, years 
later, taking Paul Bourgel of the French 
Academy there to see "a characteristic Amer- 
ican drama" "The New South." Memory 
recalls Herbert Kelcey, Georgia Cayvan, Mas- 
ter Tommy Russell, Maud Harrison, Annie 
Russell, Richard Mansfield and Eben Plym- 
ton. As I was leaving the first performance 
of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" a horribly 
realistic study by Mansfield I met a physician 
in the lobby and asked for a prescription to 
counteract the effect of the experience through 
which every member of the audience had gone. 
He gave it to me and 1 printed it {Herald, 
June 4, ISSN) over Mi-. Minton's criticism. At 
this house appeared Emily Rigl, Dorothy 
Dorr — who afterwards married my devoted 
friend. Harry J. W. Dam — and Henry Miller. 
Charles Hoyt's advent occurred September 18, 
IS!).'?, in "A Temperance Town." then "A 
Texas Steer." Iloyt and McKee leased the 
house in January. 1894. My relations with 
Iloyt were of the warmest kind. I went to 
Charleston, Yt.. to see him in his last illness. 
Frank McKee was his devoted friend to the 
last, although evil tongues tried to separate 
the two comrades. 

Ohio has Keen called the mother of presi- 
dents, but it is a remarkable fact that the 



d "Kuel 



uekeve 



Stat« 



has grown many of the 
successful theatrical 

and operatic managers 
of this country. Among 
the former is George 
( 'rouse Tyler, especial- 
ly prominent at this 
time becauseof his real- 
istic presentation of 
"The Garden of Al- 
lah." the ureal dramatic 
feature of the season of 
I'M 1-'12. Mr. Tyler 
was born at ( ircleville. 
April. 1S(!7. and stud- 
ied at public ami pri- 
vate schools at Chilli- 
cothe. Like many 
other men who have attained success in other 
lines of endeavor, young Tyler learned to set 
type and then trekked to New York to become 




GEi IRGE C rYLEB 



:u(i 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



a reporter on a daily newspaper. Thence lit' 
secured employment <>n the \. V. Mirror. 
and soon Pound his place as a theatrical man- 
ager. First, lie undertook advance work for 
.lames ( )'\eill. subsequently acting for several 
large dramatic organizations in the same 
capacity. He had shown so much acumen 
as an organizer and manager that in 1897 he 
readily formed the firm of Liebler & Co. 
composed of Theodore A. Liebler and George 
C. Tyler to present Charles Coghlan in his 
own adaptation of "The Royal Box," which 
achieved great success. Mr. Tyler's first 
preeminent success came when he made a five 
years' contract with Viola Allen to exploit 
her as a star under Liebler & Co., in Hall 
Caine's "The Christian," which proved the 
greatest money-maker of the decade about 
si. ()()(), (100 in net profits accruing from this 
contract. Since that lime the firm of Liebler 
<!v Co. has been on "easy street" and has 
scored an almost unbroken series of dramatic 
successes. Among the now famous stars 
which Mr. Tyler has been instrumental in 
managing or exploiting may be named Eleanor 
Robson, Ada Rehan, .lames A. Heme, Otis 
Skinner, Viola Allen. James O'Neill, Wilton 
Lackaye, Blanche Rates. Elsie Janis, William 
Faversham, Gertrude Elliott, May Irwin, 
Mary Manncring. William Hodge, George 
Arliss, II. R. Warner. Dorothy Donnelly, 
Arnold Daly, Albert Chevalier, Walker White- 
side, Nat. C. Goodwin, Olga Nethersole, 
Dustin Farnum, Chrystal Heme, Mabel Mite, 
Annie Russell, Margaret Anglin. Sarah Cowell 
LeMoyne, Edward Ilarrigan, and others. In 
addition. Liebler cS: Co. have brought to this 
country for American tour or long-while con- 
tract some of the foremost dramatic artists of 
Europe, including Mrs. Patrick Campbell. 
Elenora Duse, Madam Gabrielle Rejane. 
Vesta Tilley, Edward Terry, Ellis Jeffreys, 
Kyrle Bellew, and more recently Lewis Waller, 
who sustains the leading role in "The Garden 
of Allah," and Madame Simone. the great 
Parisian artiste who has been playing in New 
York and Boston in repertoire the past season. 

The art of dramatic composition takes 
second place only to that of epic writing in 




the entire domain of literature. Until recently, 

meaning little m o r e 
than a generation, 
America has had to de- 
pend upon Europe for 
its plays and most of its 
novels. 

In the case of Charles 
Klein, born in London. 
1867, the order was re- 
versed, the dramatist 
himself was imported. 
He was educated at 
North London College 
and came to New York 
about the time of his 
majority. Here, he 
soon formed t h e ac- 
quaintance of Charles Frohman and for many 
years served as his censor of plays. From his 
earliest boyhood. Mr. Klein had been asso- 
ciated with the stage, although there is no 
record that he ever appeared as an actor. lie 
began to compose playlets before he was out 
of his teens and his first full-Hedged drama, 
"A Mile a Minute,"' was produced on the 
stage when he was twenty-three years of age. 
That marked him as a prodigy. Full twenty 
other plays have followed in rapid succession. 
There never was more than an interval of two 
years between them: three of his productions 
have been on the New York boards at one 
time. To give a list of his plays would be 
like naming the separate volumes of the 
"Comedie Humaine, ' and would give little 
idea of their many merits or of the transcend- 
ent success some of them achieved. Without 
pretending to utter a dictum as to the relative 
merits of Klein plays. I should say that "The 
Auctioneer." 1901, in which David Warfield 
made his first hit, really signalized the deserved 
recognition of Charles Klein. Three years 
later, with the same actor in the chief role. 
'The Music Master" literally took New York 
by storm. Then followed 'The Lion and 
the Mouse." 'The Daughters of Men." "The 
Stepchild." 'The Third Degree." and the 
"Next of Kin." Mr. Klein is a prominent 
member of the Lambs and American Drama- 
tists' clubs. He is devoted to a country life 
and dwells on his Sabine farm at Rowayton, 
Conn. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



3 47 




HARRISON GREY FISKE 



Journalism has been the entering gate for 
many successful American theatrical managers 
and playwrights. Harrison Grey Fiske, de- 
scended from Revolu- 
tionary slock, was born 
at Harrison, Westchest- 
er County, July, 1861. 
A f I o v attending Dr. 
C h a |> i n's ( lollegiate 
School he traveled in 
Europe and returned 
home to enter the Uni- 
versity of the ('ity of 
New York. His tastes 
were literary, and after 
graduation he became 
dramatic critic on The 
Argus of Jersey City. 
Later he held a similar 
| dace on the New \ ork 
Star. Securing stock in The Dramatic Mirror 
in IS?!), he became its sole owner in 1SSS. 
Fiske has been a staunch encourager of the 
American drama and has striven for patriotism 
in dramatic art. The distinguished American 
actress. Minnie Maddern, became his wife 
in 1890. Mr. Fiske entered the Held of man- 
agement, starring Mrs. Fiske. in 1896. The 
Manhattan was leased in 1!)()1 as the home 
theatre for Mrs. Fiske. and remained so for 
five years. Dining that period. Bertha Kalich, 
the Polish actress, was made known to the 
American public. Mr. Fiske is a producing 
manager, personally directing rehearsals and 
supervising all details of the productions he 
presents. His more notable successes have 
included "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," "Reeky 
Sharp.'* "Mary of Magdala," "Miranda of 
the Balcony." ' The Unwelcome Mis. Hatch," 
"Divorcons," "A Doll's House," "Leah 
kleschna." "Monna Vanna," "Hedda Gab- 
ler," "Rosmersholm." 'The New York Idea." 
"Marta of the Lowlands." "Sappho and 
Phaon," "The Devil." "Septimus," "Salva- 
tion Nell," "Hannele." and "Pillars of So- 
ciety." 

Mere mention of Oscar Hammerstein must 
suffice, although he has built so many theatres 
and music halls that he deserves extended 
eulogy. The Victoria, still open, was his 
fifth attempt, the Republic his sixth, since 



which time the splendid Manhattan Opera 
House has risen, where Oscar introduced 
Mary Garden and operas of the modern 
French and Italian schools to New Yorkers. 
When the Manhattan was sold, the sleepless 
impresario repeated his experiment in London. 

Victor Herbert occupies a commanding posi- 
tion in the musical world, as musician, con- 
ductor and composer of versatility. He has 

written several charm 
ing light operas which 
have met with unusual 
success and the \ ictor 
Herbert ( )rchestra, his 
own organization, is 
now an institution in 
New York. Born in 
Dublin. 1859, Mr. Her- 
bert is a grandson of 
Samuel Lover, the nov- 
elist. He was educated 
by private tutors and 
received a broad and 
careful musical training 
in Germany, specializ- 
ing on the violoncello. 
He achieved high success as solo 'cellist with 
several famous orchestras in Germany. Com- 
ing to America, on tour, in 1886, he remained 
in this country as solo 'cellist at the Metropoli- 
tan Opera and later appeared in that capacity 
with other leading orchestras. He later suc- 
ceeded the famous conductor, Patrick Gilmore, 
at the head of the 22nd Regiment Band and 
was for some time conductor of the Pittsburg 
orchestra. His new grand opera, "Xatsina," 
which is, so far. his most ambitious work, has 
received public approval. 




We who live in New York hardly realize 
that there is no absolutely dull season here. 
In this respect, our city differs from almosl 
every other one in the world. Washington, 
when Congress is not in session, is like a col- 
lege town when the students are away. Lon- 
don, during the Fall and Winter, is a deserted 
town, — everybody is in the country. Only 
the stages and cabs give evidence of throbbing 
business activities at commercial centres of 
the metropolis. In New York, Broadway is 



348 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



•as much a moving panorama in and out of 

season as arc the Parisian boulevards. Its 
large shops are crowded with strangers dur- 
ing die warmest Augusl weather. Roof-gar- 
dens arc aglow with light and noisy with eon- 
viviality. Country merchants are here to 
replenish their Winter stocks. — a type of man 
rarely accompanied by his wife and who re- 
turns home as a missionary, self-appointed, 
to injure the good name of this gay city. He 
is always to be recognized by his apparel and 
his fondness for the "Tenderloin." The life 
he finds there is in such marked contrast to 
that of the western village from which he 
hails that its enjoyment overcomes his judg- 
ment. At home, his maddest revel consists 
of an "ice-cream party" or a meeting of a 
mite society! Here, by comparison, lie finds 
a continuous carnival at the giddy restaurants; 
a dinner at one of the French table d'hotes 
along the Great White Way will furnish a 
memory picture to illumine his after years of 
dull and monotonous life. 

New York's history is invested with much 
truthful and much apocryphal glamour. 
Washington Irving, an unconscious humorist, 
is chiefly to blame for the latter incidents. 
'The Conquest of Grenada" and "Diedrich 
Knickerbocker's History of Xew York" were 
practical jokes of their author. Veritable 
figures exist in Wouter Von Twiller, the pio- 
neer Dutch Governor, and Petrus Stuyvesant, 
"exile of ye Bouwerie." Jacob Leisler was 
first American martyr to popular liberty. Cap- 
tain Kidd, born an Englishman, hanged in 
London, came to New York as protege of the 
Karl of Bellamonte. He lived on the north 
side of W all Street, opposite the National ( 'ity 
Bank. I never pass through " Golden Hill" 
that section between William and Gold Streets 

without hearing, in imagination, the shouts 
of the "Liberty Boys" during their ebolution 
of spontaneous patriotism that brought about 
the first conflict with British troopers: that 
skirmish marks the earliest bloodshed of the 
Revolution and antedates the Boston mas- 
sacre. One may easily see. as he crosses the 
old ( 'ommon. now ( 'ity Hall Park, the shadowy 
figure of Washington, sitting erect upon his tl 



-hrthe watches of the night, going home after 
the newspaper with which I was associated 
had gone to press. I have fancied I heard the 
clatter of Putnam's steed and the tramp of his 
troops on Broadway, in their precipitate re- 
treat from Bowling Green to Spuyten Duyvil. 
A many-volume novel is hidden in the loves, 
hatreds and revenges of Madame Jumel. 
The statue of Nathan Hale, in City Hall 
Park, is a constant reminder that the only 
editor ever hanged in this city was one who 
said. "I regret I have only one life to lose 
for my country!" I have witnessed the exe- 
cutions of preachers, physicians, lawyers and 
men about town, all critics of the daily news- 
paper, but never of an editor. 



When the grandson of a very rich man de- 
votes his life to art instead of luxurious ease, 
one must feel high respect for his efforts to 
achieve success in his adopted profession. I 
write of Ben Ali llaggin with sincere en- 




BEN ALI HAGGIN 



white horse, listening to the first reading m 
this city of the Declaration of Independence. 



lusiasm. because I have visited his studio 
and have seen many of his portraits. His 
large portrait of Alary Garden is known 



THE HOOK of NEW VORK 



349 



throughout this country and Europe as [In- 
most interesting likeness of the prima donna. 
Twelve of Mr. Haggin's portraits were recently 
shown at the Glaenzer Galleries. The can- 
vasses included Miss Marjorie Curtis, Mrs. 
Edward W. Delafield, Mrs. Leo Everett, Miss 
Kitty Gordon, Mrs. Wilfred Buckland, Mr. 
Otis Skinner as "Hajj the Beggar" in "Kis- 
met." Mile. Rita Sacchetto, Mr. J. Harry 
Benrimo, two of Margaret Lee. one in a 
Chinese coat, and a portrait in black. The 
exhibition attracted much attention, due to 
excellence of execution. Mr. Ben Ali Hag- 
gin was horn in this city. April. 1882. He 
was prepared to enter Harvard University; 
Lut lie forsook a college course for art and 
began painting. After study abroad, he 
opened a studio in New York at the age 
of 1!) and married Miss Faith Robinson 
two years later. At "24 Mr. Haggin exhibited 
at the Society of American Artists and since 
then his pictures have been accepted and 
hunt;- at nearly all important galleries, in- 
cluding the National Academy of Design. 
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Corcoran 
Gallery at Washington. Cincinnati Museum, 
the Royal Academy at Berlin and Der Kunst- 
verein at Munich. 

The history of the Haggin family is very 
romantic. Mr. Haggin's great-great-grand- 
father came from Turkey to this country in 
the eighteenth century. lie was an officer of 
the Janizaries at Constantinople and his name 
was Ibrahim Ben Ali. The artist's grand- 
father. James B. Haggin, the wealthy mine 
owner, is the largest breeder of thoroughbred 
horses in this country. At the age of 84, he 
is hale and active. I lis Kentucky stud farm 
at Elmendorf is the show place of the state; 
his California stock farm. Bancho del Paso, 
contains 47,000 acres. At the two places, 
Mr. Haggin has had at one time as many as 
1.0(1(1 brood mares and stallions; in the days 
of turf popularity, he bred as many as 400 
yearlings annually. His racing stable has 
contained many illustrious names. Mr. Ben 
Ali Haggin's grandmother was a famous 
Southern beauty. Miss Sanders, of Natchez. 
Miss. She died in 1894. The artist has his 
atalier in the studio building on West Sixty- 
seventh Street. His club is the Players. 




Gen EDW AHH I. MOLINEAUX 



It is a pleasure to talk about a real hero of 
the Civil War, who, when strife ended, prompt- 
ly returned to paths of peace and to a forgcl- 

fulness of past differ- 
ences between a re- 
united people In the 
business life of this 
city. General Edward 
Leslie Molineaux has 
been a commanding fig- 
ure for forty-live years. 
He was born in L833, 
and although actively 
engaged in trade be- 
came identified with the 
National Guard of the 
State of New York 
in 1N.54. Joining the 
Brooklyn City Guard, 
he rapidly rose in non- 
commissioned rank un- 
til he was despatched to South America on an 
important commercial enterprise. At the first 
shock of Civil War, he enrolled himself as a 
member of the Seventh Regiment, assisting 
meanwhile in filling the ranks of the 
Twenty-third (Brooklyn) regiment. He 
was subsequently chosen Lieutenant-Colonel 
of the latter regiment, In August, 1862, as 
Lieutenant-Colonel, he raised the 1.59th Regi- 
ment. N. Y. Y., which was mustered into the 
United States service with Mr. Molineaux as 
its Colonel. Ilis command was assigned to 
the Banks Expedition on the Lower Missis- 
sippi, and the Colonel was severely wounded 
in April, 1863, while leading a charge at the 
battle of Irish Bend. Wounds did not keep 
him from active service long, however: as soon 
as he could leave the hospital, he reappeared in 
the Red River campaign. He was then appoint- 
ed assistant Inspector-General of the Depart- 
ment of the Mississippi, afterwards acting as 
Provost Marshal at an exchange of prisoners. 
This led to his appointment as military com- 
mander of Lafourche district. La. At the 
close of the Red River campaign, he was 
ordered North and joined Gen. Grant in the 
final operations against Petersburg and Rich- 
mond. With a division of the l!)th Army 
Corps, he reinforced Gen. Sheridan in the 
Shenandoah \ alley and took part in every 



350 



THE BOOK of XFW YORK 



engagement of that campaign. Conspicuous 
gallantry ;it Fisher's Hill, Winchester and 
Cedar Creek won him a Brigadier-General's 
epaulets by brevet. Then his brigade was 
sent to Savannah by sea to reinforce Gen. 
Sherman. "For gallant and meritorious serv- 
ice during the war," he was breveted Major 
General. Subsequently, he was made Major- 
General, second division. X. G S. X. V. He 
is a member of the Loyal Legion and of many 
public and charitable associations. On Octo- 
ber 14. 1908, General Molineaux was tendered 
a reception by Ins surviving comrades of the 
159th Regiment, on his seventy-sixth birth- 
day, which was one of the most memorable 
social events that ever occurred in Brooklyn. 

A leading figure in one of the world's great- 
est industries is Richard A. McCurdy, who 
recently retired from the presidency of The 

Mutual Life Insurance 
Company. Mr. Mc- 
Curdy was born in this 
city in 1835 and is a son 
of Robert H.McCurdy, 
who was for many yea is 
a director of the Mu- 
tual. 

He graduated LL.B. 
from the Law School 
of Harvard University 
in 1866 and practiced 
law with Lucius Rob- 
inson, afterwards ( Jov- 
ernor of New York. 
richard a. mccurdy He was appointed at- 

torney for The Mutual 
Life Insurance Company in lS(i() and became 
its vice-president in 1865. Upon the death 
of President Winston in 1885, Mr. McCurdy 
succeeded him in the office and continued in 
that capacity until 1 !)<)(>. when he resigned. 
He is a member of the Metropolitan, Law- 
yers," Morristown and Morris Comity Golf 
clubs and resides at Morristown, X. J. 




Scores of remarkable reminiscences could 
be recounted about *' Inspector" Byrnes' meth- 
ods in dealing with criminals. One incident 
I particularly recall. About 1S!)(), a notorious 
thiiii', named Jerrv Dunn, came Last from the 

* 

Pacific Coast tor the avowed purpose of killing 



Byrnes. lb" got himself interviewed at Den- 
ver, Omaha and Chicago, uttering, in each 
place, terrible threats against the Chief of 
New York's police force. 

A few days later, I was walking up Broad- 
way one afternoon and overtook the "In- 
spector." He was sauntering along, studying 
the faces of every man he passed. In ex- 
ceptionally good humor, we had traveled sev- 
eral blocks, when I happened to glance across 
to the west side of the street and saw big, 
burly, black-whiskered Jerry Dunn! His face 
and figure were familiar to me. as he had been 
a frequenter of the race tracks, where I had 
gone as a writer of introductions, until Byrnes 
had driven him out of town for killing a 
companion in a brawl. The "Inspector" 
never moved a. muscle, but said: 

"Oh, yes; he has been following me all the 
way from City Hall: I am walking slowly, not 
to fatigue him. He will not cross the street. 
He never will shoot me or anybody else, unless 
he can do it in a dark alley, with nobody in 
sight." 

"Surely, you are armed.-" I asked, anx- 
iously. 

"Never have I carried a revolver since I 
ceased to be a patrolman; a gun is of little 
use in a crowd. The silent, vindictive chap 
who is determined to 'get you' will do it if you 
are a walking arsenal." 

We parted at the corner of Houston Street. 
Naturally, I lingered a moment to see if Dunn 
crossed the thoroughfare, when the "In- 
spector" turned eastward toward police head- 
quarters. The thug stopped barely a second, 
then he resumed his way uptown. Byrnes' 
estimate of the man's character was correct. 

The sporadic appearance in this city from 
time to time of a murderer whose crime is 
characterized by the horrible atrocity that dis- 
tinguished a series of butcheries in White- 
chapel from most others that had preceded 
them (outside the French capital), is calculated 
to spin- medical specialists in degeneration to 
further study of a subject that has been thor- 
oughly set before the world by Nordeau and 
Craft-Ebbing. When in London in October 
of 1889, I took a letter from Chief Thomas 
Byrnes to the Scotland Yard authorities and 
with a special officer visited the scene of every 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



351 



one of the so-called "Whitechapel murders." 
There is much tiger blood in human veins! 
Sight or smell of human blood inspires in a 
degenerate mind a ferocity that Brooks all 
control. The horrors of Whitechapel were 
no greater than those witnessed in the Borden 
house at Fall River, where an old man and 
his wife were chopped to sausage meal by 
the hands of some temporarily crazed creature. 
When 1 visited the scenes of the murders in 
the London capital, weeks had passed and 
new tenants, quite as miserable and depraved 
as those that had contributed victims for the 
slaughters, were domiciled in the rooms thai 
had served as shambles for previous butch- 
eries. Every trace of the crimes had disap- 
peared. Bodies of the slain had passed 
through the dissecting rooms to the Potter's 
Field. But. at Fall River. 1 was shown 
through the Borden charnel-house before the 
blood was dry upon its walls! The mutila- 
tion of the bodies was entirely different, but 
evidences of superhuman, overmastering sav- 
agery were apparent. 

Is it to be wondered that Jay Gould, for 
Byrnes' service to him, showed Byrnes how 
to get rich.- Jay Gould did for Thomas 
Byrnes, who had saved him from supreme 
humiliation, if not from death, exactly what 
II. Victor Newcomb of Louisville did for 
Henry Grady. He "put him in" several fine 
deals, until Byrnes had capital enough to go 
alone. Henry Grady once described to me 
the sensations he went through when II. Victor 
Newcomb enabled him to make $35,000 in one 
day. without risking a cent. With thai money 
he bought an interest in the Atlanta ( 'on- 
stitution and became a national character. 
I knew Grady in Philadelphia when he was 
very poor and he sat with me for half an hour 
when passing through New ^ ork on his last 
trip to Boston. He was very ill and I tried to 
dissuade him from going. 



The problem of supplying water to a great 
city is one of such vital importance that the 
men responsible for that supply must possess 
more than ordinary ability as engineers and 
students of terrestrial economics. William 
C. Cozier, now responsible for the Brooklyn 



water supply, began his professional career 
as a reporter on the Troy Standard. He was 
born al Waterville, Oneida County, N. Y., 
and was educated at the public schools at 
Troy. From boyhood he had an inclination 
for newspaper work and subordinated every- 
thing al school to (it himself therefor. He 
rose rapidly, becoming city editor and finally 
managing editor of the Standard. In L888, 
al the age of thirty, he boughl the only morn- 
ing paper in Troy, but after three years' ex- 
perience he look advantage of a favorable 
opportunity to sell and answered the lure of 
the city by accepting an editorial position 
on the Mini and Express, where he did 
political and City Hall work until 1902. This 
brought him info acquaintance with many 
public men. He was offered a position in 
the business department of the Sun, where he 
remained until January, 1!)()(». when Mayor 
McClellan appointed him Water Commis- 
sioner of Brooklyn. Mayor Gaynor approv- 
ing all his official acts retained him. This is 
the only political office Mi'. Cozier has ever 
held. 

Political party leadership always seemed to 
me to be one of the most thankless tasks in 
the entire category of human efforts. Surely 

most of the big men in 
both parties find this 
true. It requires a 
certain temperament 
for success as a leader: 
level headedness, tact, 
and above all a knowl- 
edge of human nature. 
John II. McCoocv. 
who succeeded the late 
Senator Mc( arren as 
the Democratic leader 
of Kings ( omit v. seems 
lo have ihe character- 
istics which are needed 

N " McC s in Ihe man who slays 

al the head of things. 
Mr. MeCooey was born in the old Eleventh 
Ward of New York City, less than fifty years 
ago, and was educated in the public schools. 
On attaining his majority, he became interested 
in politics, and his activity was rewarded by a 
position in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The 





^H 




m- 1 

0. -» 1 




"4W 




BA.^h 



J5.V2 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




M IRCUS HI: VI \ i 



WILLIAM C. COZIER 



III ALV.UI H. Dll'I'V 



succeeding years found him occupying several 
minor positions, until he was eventually made 
Deputy Comptroller of the city, which position 
of trust he tilled with satisfaction. 

Mr. McCooey was recently appointed chief 
clerk in the surrogate's office of Kings County. 

He is a member of many political and social 
organizations in Brooklyn and Manhattan 
Boroughs. 

A distinguished member of the Hungarian 
population of this city is Marcus Braun, who 
now 7 holds the important office of Warden of 
the Port of New York. He was horn at Mely- 
kut, Hungary, in 1865 and secured the rudi- 
ments of an education at the public schools of 
Budapest. When little more than a hoy. he 
began to learn the trade of tinsmith and at 
fifteen tramped over most of Europe as a 
journeyman. lie worked in Berlin, Paris 
and Antwerp until 1SS.>, when he became 
a, newspaper correspondent. He had been 
a constant student and observer, determined 
upon an education, and was only prevented 
from taking a college course by utter lack 
of means. He came to America in 1892 
and secured a job as a porter; but when he 
had acquired sufficient knowledge of English, 
he resumed newspaper work, giving all spare 
time to the elevation of his needy compa- 
triots. By mixing with them and by public 
addresses he constantly strove to inspire in 
their breasts respecl for American citizenship. 



He became a citizen himself under the 
earliest provisions of the law. Prior to his 
emigration, Mr. Braun served for two years 
in the First Hungarian Infantry regiment, 
and received the Imperial and Royal Jubilee 
medals. He is a prominent member of the 
Republican Club, is founder of the Hungarian- 
American Club, — its President for fifteen 
years, a Mason, a fellow of the I. O. O. F., 
and a member of many charitable organiza- 
tions. From 1903 to 1910, Mr. Braun was 
United States Special Immigrant Inspector. 

For many years. Dr. Alvah Hunt Doty has 
been keeper of the gateway to this port from 
the .sea — the guardian of the nation, as well 
as city, from epidemics of all kinds that threat- 
ened the public health. Under his direction, 
all incoming steamers and sailing craft were 
hoarded, their passengers and crew submitted 
to keen scrutiny and persons afflicted with 
contagious diseases removed to the hospitals 
in the Power Bay. So efficient has been his 
watchfulness that not a case of cholera or 
yellow fever has got past the Quarantine. Dr. 
Doty received his medical education in this city 
and was graduated from the Bellevue Hospital 
Medical College in 1S78, and for several years 
was a lecturer at his Alma Mater on "Quar- 
antine Sanitation." About 1894, he succeeded 
Dr. Jenkins as Health Officer of the Port of 
New York and was retained in that important 
post until February, 1912, when Gov. Dix 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



353 




J. WALTER EARLE 



appointed a successor. He is a Fellow of the 
New York Academy of Medicine and a mem- 
ber of the New York Slate Medical Society. 

When the typewriter, now in universal use. 
was a comparatively new invention, one of the 
lirsl men to appreciate its future possibilities 

was John Waller Ha lie. 
He was horn at Ulys- 
ses, Tompkins Co., 
one of the many towns 
in Central New York 
laid out by Ma jor Mc- 
Clintock and named 
from Lemprier's "Clas- 
sical Dictionary" in 
August, 1S.54. After 
preparing at the Ithaca 
Academy, he spent a 
year at Cornell Univer- 
sity. Next we hear of 
him engaged in the sale 
of Remington typewrit- 
ers; he became the Lon- 
don agent of that company in 1889 and con- 
tinued as director-general for Europe until 
1902. During that time he was chairman of 
the American Society in London, lie then 
returned to this country and organized the 
Union Typewriter Company, becoming its 
president. The development of the 'Mon- 
arch" machine is largely due to his experience. 
While abroad he was created an Officer of the 
Imperial Order of the Magidieh (Turkish. 
brevet and decoration by the Khedive of 
Egypt). 



Maiden Lane, which recently hail a tablet 
in its honor placed upon the Silversmiths' 
building, has a curious history. It has played 
many parts in the city's career; it has a his- 
torical society of its own! The street was 
originally known as 't Maadge Paatje, or 
Maidens' Walk. Silversmiths began to gather 
there about 1840. Where the street slopes 
dow n to the river, at its junction with Liberty 
Street, was the famous fly Market, a corrup- 
tion of the Dutch word "Ylv." meaning a 
valley or low land. The Fly Market was an 
institution of the locality surviving long after 
the Revolution, and some of the Fly Market 



butchers were among the most substantial 
citizens. Two of them have given their names 
to city streets, James Mott, and his apprentice, 
James Pell. 



A notable example 




FRANCIS I! AI'PI.K'l'oX 



lii recent years many men intending to lead 
commercial lives have qualified themselves by 
taking courses in law. 
is Francis U. Appleton, 
w h o w a s graduated 
from Harvard in 1875 
and then spent two 
years at the Columbia 
Law School. Those 
were the days of Pro- 
fessor Theodore W. 
Dwight, whose lectures 
w e r e marvels of in- 
struction. M r. Apple- 
ton, after some years 
spent in the law office 
of Carter and Ledyard, 
and with Abiam S. 
Hewitt, took an ac- 
tive interest in the 

affairs of the Waltham Watch Company, with 
which his family had Keen associated from its 
organization. He is to-day vice-president of 
the American branch of thai greal corporation. 
He is also a director in the National Park 
Bank, Manhattan Trust Company and Mount 
Morris Hank. Cape Cod Construction Co.. 
General Memorial Hospital and Lying-in 
Hospital. While in college he was identi- 
fied with the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. 
He is a member of the Harvard, University, 
Knickerbocker, Turf and Field, Meadow 
Brook, Somerset and Myopia Hunt clubs; 
Down Town Association and Society of Colo- 
nial Wars. He is a prominent associate of the 
New England Society and devoted to books. 
music and art. as well as outdoor spoils. 

Actively engaged in the petroleum industry 
for nearly half a century. Theodore E. Tack 
is recognized as an authority on everything 
pertaining to oil. 

He was born in Philadelphia. Pa.. January 
(>, 1837, and was educated in the public schools 
there, commencing his business career with 
a dry goods house. In L862 he entered the 
volunteer service of the slate to repel the in- 



354 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




HEODORE E. 'I \' I. 

vasion of the Confederate Army under Gen- 
eral Lee. He afterwards, in association with 
liis brothers, established in Pittsburg the first 
oil brokerage house between that city and 
Philadelphia, later engaging in the production 
of oil in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. 
Since the pioneer days he has been allied 
with many producing companies. He is now 
president of the American ( )il Development 
Company, of Pittsburg, Pa. 

Passing through South Street from the 
Whitehall Ferry on the eve of Thanksgiving, 
IS!)!). I was attracted by a most unusual en- 
tertainment in a new 
building al Nos. "2 and 
.'5 which was obviously 
receiving i t s house- 
warming. The event 
was a preliminary cele- 
bration of tin- opening 
of the Marine Hard- 
ware I) u s i n e s s of 
( harles 1 hirkee <S: ( D. 
in new quarters. There 
was music, dancing and 
a collation, in which 
live hundred g u e s t s 
pa rticip a ted. The 
charles d. durkee actual opening did not 




occur until January 1. 1!)()(). Mr. Durkee 
was horn in Brooklyn in 1862. He learned the 
ship chandlery business with A. X. Rankin & 
Co.. then in Broad Street, and rapidly rose 
from various clerkships to partnership. 
Charles Durkee & Co. is known throughout 
thi' marine world for the promptitude with 
which it fills orders for the equipment of ships 
of all kinds. Mr. Durkee's particular diver- 
sion is yachting and he is a member of several 
well-known yachting clubs. He is an en- 
thusiastic Mason and a Past Master of Cove- 
nant Lodge758, Brooklyn; he is also a Knights 
Templar, a Shriner and Elk and member of 
Royal Arcanum. 

In the Held of music Ralph Scheuer has won 
recognition as well as in the manufacture of 
leather specialties. His father when nineteen 
years of age came to 
America penniless from 
the town of Hesse in 
Darmstadt and built up 
the business of S. Scheu- 
er & Son. Inc.. of which 
the son is now the head. 
Ralph Scheuer was born 
in New York city in 
1861, attended the pub- 
lic schools and the ( 'it v 
College, from which he 
was graduated, receiv- 
ing a medal for his 
studies in architecture. 
While at college, Mr. 
Scheuer founded the 
first college orchestra in 

members were Frank and Walter Damroseh, 
Samuel Untermyer, Bartow S. Weeks and 
J. C. Morgenthau. Mr. Scheuer is the in- 
ventor and patentee of twelve devices of great 
labor-saving value in the manufacture of belts, 
purses and the like. These machines are 
widely used and have enabled Mr. Scheuer to 
manufacture articles which are quite unique 
in design and practical utility. Mr. Scheuer 
is president of the New Idea Metal Goods 
Company. He is an alumnus of the New York 
( 'ity ( ollege. a 32d degree Mason and active in 
all charitable and civic movements. 

Victor L. Mason was born in Washington, 
D. C December. 1870: was graduated at the 




RALPH SCHEUER 



America. 



Among the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



355 




George Washington v *University, where he was 
a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. 
He did some writing for magazines along his- 

toncal and scientific 
lines. "New Weapons 
of the Army" and 
'"Fonr Lincoln Con- 
spiracies" were pub- 
lished in the Century. 
He then became private 
secretary to General 
Russell A. Alger, Chief 
of the War Depart- 
ment under President 
M c K i n I e y . When 
Elihu Root came to 
Washington Mr. Mason 
acted as secretary for 
VICT0E LMAE him until he decided 

to go to Detroit and 
enter the lumber business with General Alger. 
The latter was interested in the Development 
Company of America, which owned mines 
in Arizona. Mr. Mason was made vice- 
president. In 1910 he resigned and went into 
the railroad construction business. lie is 
Chairman of the New Jersey Interstate Bridge 
Commission, for live years has been President 
of the Board of Trade of Passaic. New Jersey, 
and served as Assistant Secretary of the Re- 
publican National Committee in the campaign 
of PHIS, which position he still holds. 

New York owes much of its greatness to the 
fact that it is the gateway through which the 
vast resources of this country find their way 

to foreign markets. 
The export trade has 
increased with the de- 
velopment of the city 
and. like 01 h e r 
branches of commerce, 
"has floated with the 
swelling tide of national 
growth." Kaufman 

Mandell, born at Dau- 
endorf, Alsace, was ed- 
ucated at the French 
University at Pfaffen- 
hofen, at a time when 
the p r o v i n c e was 
kaufma.n mandell French territory. He 



was graduated 




in IS.54. lie came to Amer- 
ica as a young man and joined the 
Federal Army, served through the Civil 
War and began an active business career 
in L865. when he was mustered out of the army 
at the city of New Orleans. Coming to New 
\ork, he formed the exporting firm of K. 
Mandell & Co., the business of which has 
steadily increased. 

Much external adornment has been added 
to the buildings of New York by liberal use 
of terra-cotta, and Walter Geer, who began 
his career as a lawyer, 
is largely responsible 
for the development of 
that industry. Mr. 

( Jeer was horn at Wil- 
liamstown, Mass.. Au- 
gust. 1857, and took a 
degree at Williams ( 'ol- 
lege, 1878. He then 
went to the National 
University Law School. 
Washington, D. C. 
While practicing law. 
he became an assistant 
manager of the Walter 
A. Wood Mowing and 
Reaping Machine ( O.. 

of ( hicago. Since 1886 he has been president 
of the New York Architectural Terra-cotta 
Company of this city. The important build- 
ings in which his terra-cotta has been utilized 
are the Waldorf-Astoria. Knickerbocker, An- 
sonia. Belmont, Ritz-Carlton and Gotham 
hotels. Police Headquarters, the Brunswick. 
United States Express. City Investing and 
World buildings. He is associated with many 
other companies. 

Calling on William McAdoo soon after he 
retired from the Navy Department, in his 
office at Broad and \Aall Streets, the former 
Congressman said: "I want yon to know my 
partner; we're not related, but our names are 
nearly similar." He led me to an adjacent 
apartment and I met William Gibbs McAdoo. 
When he rose to his full height, there was con- 
siderable of him —at least <> feet ;> inches. 
First impressions were exceedingly favorable. 
He had been in this city live years, but this 
was our first meeting. He has achieved im- 




WALTER GEER 



356 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



perishable fame since then, as the directing 
mind thai has driven tour tunnels under the 
Hudson River and developed a subway sys- 
tem extending from Christopher Street, north- 
ward on Sixtli Avenue to the Grand Central 
Terminal. Mr. McAdoo was less than .'50 
years of age when he responded to the call of 
the metropolis, lie came from Tennessee, a 
stranger, without financial resources or ac- 
quaintances; his capital was courage and 
brains. lie wanted to do something bigger 
than practice law. lie saw the need of better 
facilities lor reaching New Jersey and in a 
few years gathered around him capitalists 
who 'supplied $60,000,000, with which the 
tunnels and approaches were constructed. 
The Hudson Terminal buildings, under which 
the roads from New Jersey end, contain more 
floor space than any structures in New York. 
W. <!. McAdoo was born at Marietta, Ga., 
Oct.. 18(i:5; after his admission to the bar, he 
removed to Chattanooga, Tenn., in iss.5. 
where he remained until he came to this city 
in 1S!) 1 2. He is President of the Hudson & 
Manhattan Railroad Company and of the 
Southern Society of New York. His home is 
at Irvington-on-Hudson and he is an enthu- 
siastic golf player. 

The rigid self-discipline which necessity 
inculcates in the youth usually produces in 



mature years 




AHTHl'H S SOM] RS 



the characteristic called self- 
reliance. The career 
of Arthur S. Somers is 
an illustration of the 
rule. Born in New 
^i ork in lS(i(! and edu- 
cated in the public 
schools he began the 
battle of life at the age 
of ten. Ten years later 
he was a clerk for Fred 
L. Lavanburg, manu- 
facturer of dry colors 
for the paint and print- 
ing ink trade. In '!)(! 
he became general 
manager of that con- 



cern, a position he has 
since held. Mi-. Somers is vice-president of 
the Universal Audit Company of New York, 
director of the Citizens Trust Company of 
Brooklyn, and trustee of the Sumner Savings 
Bank. He is a member of the Board of Man- 
agers of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum 
Society and interested in the Brooklyn Home 
for Crippled ami Defective Children. He has 
been a member of the Board of Education and 
of the Civil Service Commission. The Han- 
over. Lincoln anil Drug Chemical clubs num- 
ber him among their members. 




THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



357 



CHAPTER XXVII 



liOIIKMIAN NIGHTS 




IFTER Pfaff's day there was 
not ;i true Bohemia in New 
York for a score of years. 
Then it reappeared in a cellar 
on Macdougal Street, south of 
Washington Square. 

Never shall I forget the first 
time 1 was taken to Maria da Prata's. Re- 
turning on an afternoon train from Philadel- 
phia, I met a fellow writer, editor of a popular 
magazine. Near us, in the parlor car. sat the 
proprietor of the then fashionable hotel in 
New York. We were all known to one 
another and at the ferry the hotel man gra- 
ciously invited ns to enter his waiting carriage 
and dine with him. 1 had declined, when 
Henry Tyrrell, a gentle personality, spoke up: 
"Come with me to Maria da Prata's. It 
will he a great night there, because Ahlrich, 
Robinson, Gilder, Stoddart, GribayedofF, 
Luks, Gunn, and other artists of pen and 
brush have arranged for a dinner of real soup, 
spaghetti, chicken and zabilyoni; there will be 
plenty of chianti and Lachrima Christi spu- 
mante. Come on. all; yon can dine with our 
friend, Mr. Boldt, any time and always well; 
but an opportunity like that I offer doesn't 
occur every day." 

Four of ns went. The exterior of the place 
was very uninviting, contrasted with the 
sumptuous place at which we might have 
dined, for we entered a basement under a 
broken stoop. ( )nce inside, however, the good 
fellows assembled at one long table made the 
hovel seem a palace. Soup was on the table, 
a great bowl thereof. Colonel Gilder was 
mixing cocktails, which were handed 'round 
in tumblers and swallowed without ceremony. 
The chaff had already begun. According to 
the gastronomic code of Ancona, where the 
best spaghetti in Italy is made, only water was 
drunk with the succulent paste. When 



chicken was served, red chianti flowed plenti- 
fully from gigantic fiascos, wanned by husky 
coverings that enwrapped their round bellies. 
( )live oil was atop the w ine in I heir necks those 
days, and I marveled at the cleverness with 
which members of the party, who had lived 
in Italy, flecked it oil' against the wall of the 
room, without losing a drop of the wine. 

That evening led to the establishment of a 
coterie that endured until an unfortunate 
time in which the prosperous Maria moved to 
West Twelfth Street and her pensionne began 
to be visited by people who came in carriages 
and evening dress. 

Many friends of the fat priestess of Bohemia 
followed her; several young authors, since 
become nationally famous, and artists who are 
to-day National Academicians, joined the 
group. Sad to say, a class of people began to 
affect the dinner because it was cheap. This 
was contrary to our view of fin de such 
Bohemia. The dinner cost only 60 cents, but 
our bills often ran as high as ** and sin for 
wine. The cheap people were more obnox- 
ious than the swells who came in automobiles. 
For a time, therefore, we deserted our Maria 
for the Pensionne di Livorno, on Washington 
Square. On the north side of this ancient 
parade-ground, opposite the home of hilarity 
where we were wont to forget the cares of the 
present and to lav up scores thai had to be 
settled, dwelt some of the oldest families of 
the metropolis -people of much method, main 
dollars, and inheritors of humdrum, common- 
place lives. 

Arriving at the Livorno late, one memorable 
night, I took the only vacant seat at a long 
table beside a well-dressed stranger. Many 
old comrades were there; some w ere in buoyant 
spirits, chief of whom was Marie Potoffski, 
a Russian woman known as The Countess. 
She had belonged to the coterie for several 



3.58 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



years and was vivacious as ever, although her 
vivid auburn hair was streaked with grey and 
deep lines had formed in her race. 

"Sing for us!" commanded Potoffski, look- 
ing hard at The Poet, as she called for more 
chianti. 

While The Poet sang, — because, in Bohemia 
nobody offers excuses, — 1 sought other familiar 
faces round the hoard. Near the foot of the 
table, I saw The Great American Artist (I 
mentally used capital letters to distinguish this 
man from The Poor Artist, who sat near 
me). Across the hoard was The Vampire, 
secretive, silent and watchful: we called him 
"The Vampire" because he listened with his 
eves as well as his ears and bled lis of all good 
stories, clever hits of repartee and sold them 
to his own profit. Not far away. I had a bow 
from The Incubator, so named because he 
hatched out our abortive witticisms and 
warmed into living form our imperfect meta- 
phors. Beside the fair-skinned Russian wo- 
man was The Tutor, who addressed his com- 
pany in French and taught that language at one 
of the most fashionable schools of Manhattan. 
To my surprise, 1 recognized The Pretty 
Model, now several times a mother, who had 
"a past " but did not brood over it. This fact. 
interesting in itself and delightful to me. 
distinguished her from several other young 
anil unknown models at the table who had 
entered the field of art much later than she 
and had not yet attained to the distinction of 
having their faces and most of their figures 
portrayed nearly every week in illustrated 
publications by such artists as Archie Gunn, 
Charlie Reinhart, Charles Dana Gibson, Wil- 
liam T. Smedley, Louis Loch and Granville 
Smith. 

Variously placed, were representatives of 
"The Glad-Hand Society." generally met 
with in Bohemia and club-land. But the 
sweeter The Poet's soul;', the more I studied 
r ldie Stranger at my right. He was dressed 
in broadcloth, of clerical cut. and looked the 
part of '"leading man" in Kotzebue's famous 
play, "Menschenhass und Reu," —familiar to 
all of us in English as "The Stranger." Ob- 
viously well known at the Pensionne di 
Livorno, his face was new to me. He had not 



belonged to the old Maria da Prata crowd 
that included Joseph Stoddart. Julian Haw- 
thorne, Nugent Robinson. Edgar Fawcett, 
Valerian Grebayedoff, George Luks, W. S. 
Walsh. Recorder Goff and Col. Gilder, -with 
many brilliant women who supported them- 
selves or their husbands by the product of 
their pens. 

While a dainty little waitress, called Pinota 
by every one. was serving us with minestrone, 
my neighbor, The Stranger, transferred to me 
thi' conversation he had been lavishing upon 
Madame Potoffski. Probably assuming 1 had 
overheard his previous talk, he said, authorita- 
tively: 

"It was one of the misfortunes of history." 

"Doubtless," I answered, ignorant of the 
cause of his regret. 

"I am sorry yon do not take stronger 
ground on so important a question," retorted 
The Stranger, reproachfully. 

For the first time, I critically examined my 
neighbor from the corner of an eye. His was 
a burly figure, and by far the best dressed in 
the dingy apartment. He looked to be a 
strong, dogmatic and highly positive person- 
ality. 

"How can 1 .'" was my retort. 

"Surely, you admire Bona-part-e ? " he de- 
manded. 

"Naturally." I was temporizing in order 
to learn his game before leading through his 
hand. 

"Had Bona-part-e made his escape to the 
United States, this land would have witnessed 
a restoration of the Roman Republic!" 

"Not while 'Old Hickory' was living." I 
suggested. 

'Hickory'. 1 ' I never heard of him." 
"Madison was president, of course: but 
Andrew Jackson, called 'Old Hickory,' never 
would have stood for Napoleon." 

'•What do you mean?" 

"Merely, there wasn't room in this country, 
with the area of the Louisiana Purchase added, 
for Andrew Jackson and Napoleon Bona- 
parte." 

'"That's the most remarkable statement I 
ever heard!" exclaimed The Stranger, with 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



3.59 



amazement. He wasn't sure whether be had 
underrated Jackson, or overrated Bonaparte. 

"Bonaparte would probably have been 
hanged," said I ; "that would have been as un- 
fortunate as the ending that finally came to 

him at St. Helena." 

"Ah! Profanation! Why do you say 
this ? " screamed The Stranger. *' Bona-part-e 
would have builded a new nation here, as — as 
— what was his name ?" 

"You probably refer to .Eneas!-" suggested 
The Poet. 

"Yes, as .Eneas planted a new Greece in 
Italia." 

"But Napoleon was a Frenchman." pro- 
tected The Poor Artist. 

"He was not!" retorted my neighbor, with 
an emphasis that awakened echoes from the 
remotest corners of the room. "He was a 
Roman, — an Italian Caesar, who reconquered 
Card!" 

At this point. The Stranger drew a card from 
a side pocket and handed it to me. For a 
moment, I was in doubt whether I was about 
to lie challenged. Upon the card, wore en- 
graved the words: "Carlos Bacigalupo, Fu- 
neral Director." 

I thanked The Stranger, and promised to 
bear him in mind. He became to me the vis- 
ible presence of Death, fit to appear in "Ibin- 
nella." While an "omnibus" was removing 
the fish course. The Stranger recurred to the 
Napoleonic contention : 

"Bona-part-e" — and he always sounded the 
the final vowel— "was a Republican, driven to 
Imperialism, just as was Caesar. He eared 
nothing for show. He'd have made a true 
American. * * * What a pretty child she 
is!" he exclaimed, as bright-eyed little Pinota 
reentered, bearing a monster tray of spaghetti. 
Strings of vermicular paste wriggled over the 

edge of the dish. The f 1 was as hot as 

Christmas pudding; the tomato sauce made 
it as pink as Indian coral. Behind this steam- 
ing feast, as in a cloud of vapor, shone the in- 
nocent face, with its sparkling eves and daintily 
puckered mouth. Pinota was the angel of 
the Pensionne di Livorno and every man 
among its regular patrons regarded himself 
as her special protector. 



"How she smiles and makes eyes to-night!" 
said my neighbor. 

"She is more of a child than a waitress," I 
commented. 

"What a sweei little bride she'd make!" 
soliloquized The Stranger, as his exes followed 
Pinota. 

Everybody was clamorous to lie served. 
'To Pinota!" shouted the men. lifting their 
glasses. The Poet stood up. 

"Sinn- us your latest song!" again demanded 
'The Countess," who like the other women 
had been silent ami thirsty when the toast 
was proposed. 

"That I will." replied The Poet. "It is SO 
new that nobody has heard il. I wrote the 
verses this afternoon, to the melody, 'Alice, 
Where Art Thou.-' I have called the song 
' . tddio Pinota! 

The Poet sang and everybody helped or 
hindered him in the refrain. 

"Why ' Addio' ? " several voices asked, 
when he had finished. 

"Because. I am to be married," replied The 
Poet. 

Pinota. standing near the singer, had Keen 
listening, enraptured. She knew " Addio" 
meant "Farewell"; the word "married" was 
one of the few in her English vocabulary. Her 
pretty face turned pale. As she staggered to 
the rear of the room, The Incubator, who 
hadn't noticed her distress shouted: 

'To Pinota. everybody!" All glasses wore 
drained again. 

"He always writes verses to Pinota," said 
The Stranger, in a stage whisper. "She's a 
foolish child and has believed him when he 
sang of his love for her. When she hears 
that young fool's voice her eyes beam with 
delight." 

"Pinota is in love, then.-" I queried. 
'Yes, in love." lie replied, adding a deep 
sigh. 

"Ridiculous!" exclaimed Potoffski, with a 
sneer. "She's a meer child." 

'That she is." commented The Vampire. 

"Ought to be in the nursery!" snapped The 
Pretty Model. 



360 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



'*(). I say, she is sixteen," ventured The 
Poor Artist. 

"What does a girl know of love at sixteen; 
or boy, for that matter.-" retorted The Count- 
ess, with a curl of lip. "When I was 

"Ileal!" -from our corner of the table. 

"Listen, all!" from the other end of the 
hoard. 

'This is not a confessional. Madame." in- 
terposed The Stranger, looking hard at The 
Lady of Quality. His check to Her Ladyship, 
in defense of Pinota, made him my friend. 

"If he is an undertaker," whispered The 
Poor Artist. "I'll swear he's no mute!" 

"He's not conducting my funeral!" The 
( lountess flung hack. 

The Vampire wrote this bit of repartee in 
his note-hook, surreptitiously, for the British 
market, where "mutes" are as necessary to a 
funeral as the corpse. After exchanging 
glances of defiance with Pinota's champion, 
The Countess hurst into a laugh as keen as the 
pitiless winds of the frozen North. Strange 
that none of the women, old or young, who 
came to the pensionne liked the little waitress. 
It is exceptional for older women to he jealous 
of younger ones. 

The Poet sat moody and silent; hut what 
else was to he expected from a man of his 
temperament about to forsake Bohemia and 
to settle down to staid matrimony? The 
truth was. he and Pinota hail exchanged 
glances and he saw tears in her young eyes. 

At this point, there was delay in serving 
the dinner. The cook brought in the next 
course, because the little serving maid was 
not to he found. For a time, we forgot her. 

A scream was heard from the upper part 
of the house that brought every Bohemian to 
his feet. The shriek increased in volume as 
the woman uttering it descended the stairs. 
She came bounding into the basement, as she 
gasped ; 

" Pinota is dead!" 

The shock was appalling. In broken Eng- 
lish and equally unintelligible Italian, the 
trembling woman explained that on going to 
the roof for fresh table linen she had found poor 
Pinota writhing in the agonies of death. "By 



hi'r side lay this bottle," the woman added, 
holding up a small vial bearing the label, 
"Oxalic Acid." Kitchen maids use it for 
cleaning copper vessels. 

While several men ran in search of physi- 
cians, most of us climbed the stairway to aid 
the "Child of Bohemia." Promptly, the frail 
body of the girl, still having the warmth of a 
life just extinguished, was brought to the 
dining-room. Although distorted by the 
agony of death, the face was still beautiful. 
We composed the girlish figure atop an un- 
occupied table. Most of us men cried like 
children! Xo more eating and drinking for 
us! The Poet stood apart, clutching in his 
fingers a scrap of paper that had been in the 
dead girl's hand. The rude scrawl read: 
"I lutf you. Mr. Poet. Gift me luff to Signor 
Bacigalup'." 

Two physicians came and told us what we 
already knew . A coroner arrived, also. Then 
I heard a voice at my side, -a voice that 
echoed like the fall of clods upon a box in an 
open grave: 

"She left me her love! I will bury her. 
friendless little one!" 

And he did. Some of us sent flowers. 
Several of the women went to Bacigalupo's 
mortuary chapel, upon the walls of which 
hung pictures of the Blessed Virgin brought 
from Italy, duty paid, ami other evidences of 
sacred reverence for art and religion, and sang 
in requiem the same pretty airs to which 
Pinota had listened with rapture. Thus it 
was I came to know the identity of "II Gran' 
Bacigalup' " as he was lovingly called by the 
Italians of New York, the merriest undertaker 
who ever lived — and the most interesting. 
He loved his fellow man. 

We drifted hack to our first love. Maria, 
after the tragic death of Pinota. the elf-child 
that took her life for love of a poet. More 
than half a year had passed for it was now 
Summer. The Laureate of Bohemia had 
married, as he said he would, and had dropped 
from our lives. The Poor Artist had sud- 
denly become famous. He had foresworn 
landscapes, for winch he had little talent, and 
had taken to figures, for which he possessed 
marvelous aptitude. He could paint a por- 
trait in half a day that commanded $500, and 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



'Mil 



orders were far ahead of his capacity for work. 
Not that he was an idler, I tut he insisted on 
studying his subject, often for a week, before 
he would put brush to canvas. When the in- 
spired moment arrived, he would fix the face 
upon the stretcher in a jiffy. lie painted 
from memory, only requiring a sitting for the 
finishing strokes with the camel's-hair. But 
fame came unexpectedly. He sent half a 
dozen of his impressionistic portraits to the 
annual exhibition of the National Academy, 
and every one of them was rejected! One of 
the greatest of the Fifth Avenue art-shops at 
once placed its main gallery at The Poor 
Artist's disposal; the newspapers that had 
given half column notices to the Academy's 
exhibition devoted two columns or more to the 
Luks display. Crowds flocked to see the 
pictures. A clerk was appointed to take 
orders and twenty-three portraits were booked 
in ten days, at .$1,000 each. Not a member of 
Bohemia but was glad. This had occurred 
during the previous winter, and now that 
Summer was come and The Boor Artist had 
a bank account, he had taken himself to Paris 
and was renewing faded memories of the 
■Quarticr Latin and Montmartre. This was 
well, for the heat at Maria's that night was 
intense. 

The Vampire, of whom I have spoken, had 
followed us to the new home of Bohemia. 
He had been a member of the Cloister Club 
for a brief space; but its "Friars" had detected 
his propensities to absorb and market their 
quips and epigrams, which represented money 
to them. They had expelled The Vampire 
for violating a by-law of their unwritten con- 
stitution. Then he returned to us, — a com- 
pliment, in a way. His presence implied that 
he could find sixty cents' worth of salable 
literature somewhere among us. Sixty cents 
was the price of the dinner, wine included. 
And such wine. Most of us never drank any- 
thing cheaper than chianti. And here was 
The Vampire, drinking our literary heart's 
blood, also, as of yore! 

The Countess had married and had become 
mistress of a modiste's shop, on a side street 
near Fifth Avenue. She was said to be doing 
a successful business in second-hand evening 
gowns and Parisian hats not more than a 



season old. Around the board were Walsh, 
Gilder, Stoddart, Max de Lipman, Anthony 
(the White Czar), Robinson, Goff (now a 
"Recorder" or something of the sort), ami a 
score of other clever men. less famous or 
more notorious; hut there was a break in the 
circle not to lie forgotten for an instant. I 
refer to Salisbury, of Salisbury Plain. neat- 
Boston. He had been graduated from Bo- 
hemia, the previous Winter, hut we were sure 
of his affection for his alma mater and actually 
felt the presence of his astral body at all our 
reunions. That his memory might he kept 
fresh, a dozen quarts of chianti were opened 
every Sunday at his expense, in which his 
health was pledged again and yet again. For, 
you must know. Salisbury had come into a 
great fortune. 

About three years before the night I am 
describing, Salisbury had appeared among us 
sorely disgusted with the world, indifferent 
to promises of the future in this existence or 
the next. His father had cast him off and a 
sweetheart had renounced him in the same 
week. His parent had thought him deficient 
in business capacity, unequal to the inheri- 
tance and management of a thrifty shipping- 
house that had been in the family since the 
days of the Colonies. The head of this Bos- 
ton firm had expected to transmit its name 
and business to his only son, the Salisbury we 
all knew. But the youngster had not dis- 
tinguished himself at Harvard as a student; 
indeed, he had required five years to get a 
degree, having been "set hack." His popu- 
larity among his fellows was immense, equally 
admired in the two classes with which he had 
been catalogued. Had the Yale custom of 
awarding a wooden spoon to the "best fellow 
in a class" existed at Harvard. Salisbury 
would have won the trophy by unanimous 
vote. Then, too. when he took his place in 
the counting-house facing India Wharf he 
did not show to advantage. He could not add 
a column of figures! lie did not last long, 
because his father was an ogre that fattened 
on discontent. The old man had turned his 
office into a nest of spies, and actually en- 
couraged informers who brought to him tales 
about his only son! One day. the young man 
went to a yacht race instead of remaining upon 
the wharf to check an invoice of hides from 



362 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Argentina. That settled him. He was hand- 
ed $500 by his infuriated parent and told to 
leave Boston. Then he came to us. 

Quite a while elapsed before we took him 
lo our hearts. We thought him too liberal 
with his money, -not a fault in itself, but his 
name was one of the best known in the Amer- 
ican commercial world and we despised com- 
merce more than we coveted wealth. Natural- 
ly, we thought him a "ringer in." who affected 
a respect for Bohemia in order to patronize 
us. Poor as was Bohemia in this world's 
goods, it could not endure to be patronized! 
Hut we misjudged him. Had we known Salis- 
bury's entire bank roll to have consisted of 
$500 and no more, his treatment would have 
been entirely different. Some of us could 
have advised him in rudiments of economy. 
The lime came, and that very soon, when his 
last dime had been spent. In despair, he 
turned to a few of us on that eventful night and 
confessed his impecuniosity. He told us how 
and why he had been disinherited. — palliating 
the outrageous conduct of his parent, as all 
agreed. Immediately, he was of the inner 
circle! lie was no longer the patron of Bo- 
hemia, as we had unjustly thought him; he 
craved a place in the ranks. 

"How can I make a living?" he asked, with 
a pathos that touched every heart, although 
many a man within the sound of his voice 
would have found the question difficult to 
answer in his own case. 

Some of us were in executive positions and 
our thoughts were concentrated on devising 
an excuse forgiving employment to him. Sud- 
denly, 1 blurted out : 

"You were on the crew at Harvard, if I 
remember ?" 

"Yes; rowed stroke two years; was captain 
in my senior year," he replied, with a modesty 
that charmed. 

"Very well; you're fixed for the Summer." 
one of the editors at the table exclaimed. 
"Can you write a description of a boat race?" 

"I never tried; but I can sign one!" 

"Exactly my idea!" shouted the editor. 

"That's what I want. You will attend the 

intercollegiate races, observe them closely. 

Then I'll have you interviewed and von will 



sign what you have said, when written out. 
Do you understand ?" 

" ^i ou've saved my life." 

"We will discuss the salary question when 
you come to my office to-morrow," added the 
editor. 

'That's a matter of secondary importance," 
replied Salisbury, with a sigh of relief, as if 
the cares of this world had been lifted from 
his shoulders. 

This novice developed remarkable capacity 
for describing a boat race. His keen eyes 
never missed a point in the contest. When 
the finish-line was passed. Salisbury would 
sit with his back to a stenographer and "talk" 
two or three thousand words about a four- 
mile contest at Xew London. Saratoga Lake 
or Poughkeepsie, without a halting sentence. 
He knew the game so thoroughly and his eve- 
memory was so vivid that he could go over 
every yard of the long course with the strug- 
gling contestants. For the time, he sat in each 
of the boats, spiritually, if not physically. He 
could feel the straining of the muscles, when 
the stroke was quickened. The dizziness of ex- 
haustion in the final spurt was known to him 
by bitter experience on the River Charles or 
at Lake Quinsigamond. He could pick out 

the weak spot in each crew. He underst 1 

the meaning of the word "endurance." Those 
things he had learned at college, and right well 
did the knowledge stand him in hand. 

When the Eall came and rowing was over 
for the year. Salisbury's enthusiasm found 
vent in football. Although not a member of 
the 'Varsity eleven, he had played as a Fresh- 
man and never hail missed seeing a game 
during his college career. He understood 
every trick. His boating articles, bearing the 
now famous name, were the pride of the metro- 
politan press! Without envy, rival writers 
of sports accorded the palm to Salisbury. 
As an innovation, his name was printed over, 
instead of under, his work, and in type very 
little smaller than the headings that an- 
nounced the results of the contests. And. 
without fail, the line "Famous Stroke of 
Harvard University" always found place be- 
neath his name. 

That's what gentle Bohemia did for Salis- 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



363 



bury: it supplied the human touch that saved 
his pride and did not inflame his vanity. He 
was still one of us; he did not outgrow the 
friends around him. So confident became lie 
of himself, in his new walk, thai when his 
hard-hearted parent relented, during the Win- 
ter that followed that Summer, Salisbury 
wrote to his father a brief bul respectful letter. 
saying that he was able to make his own living 
and preferred to do so. He accepted the 
veiled apologies for previous treatment that 
came to him in an unusually long letter from 
India Wharf. What he did not know was 
that Salisbury, pere, watched the Daily Thun- 
derstorm with the eyes of a hawk and thought 
his son the marvel of the century's end. lie 
was more vainglorious about the boy's notoriety 
than of his many millions ! He liked to see the 
family name in the newspapers! His magnifi- 
cent country house at Salisbury Plain, a short 
run from Park Square station, became a place 
of entertainment for athletes of Harvard. 
Tufts, "the Tech*' and the University bearing 
the city's name. He became a patron of 
sports. He purchased and gave additional 
acreage to Holmes' Field. He built a new 
boat house for the Harvard Navy. He re- 
equipped the gymnasium. In short, the son 
had won back a father's love. 

For three years our delightful companion- 
ship with Salisbury had continued. Some of 
us were so busy that we didn't meet for weeks, 
hut we were sure of one another. One morn- 
ing, we read in the newspapers that Salisbury, 
the elder, had died suddenly. Within a week, 
each of us who had known Salisbury, the 
younger, received a letter, heavily bordered in 
black, announcing that he "must take up his 
father's burden," because the entire business 
had been left in his keeping; with the help 
of old employees, his message said, he ex- 
pected to master its details. 

This voung man. never before confronted 
with anything more exacting than an over- 
charge for a bottle of wine he had not ordered, 
but thirsty companions had imbibed, suddenly 
became executive chief of an establishment, 
the subordinates of which were risking their 
lives against attacks from pirates on the Yel- 
low Sea. combating fever and death in the 
ports of Java, watching mutinous sailors in 



the Straits of Malacca, were vvindbound in 
the Red Sea. were waiting for a tow at Suez 
to pass through the canal, were chasing ser- 
pents on a day's shore-leave on the Island of 
Cyprus, were regarding Scilla and Charybdis 
with indifference, were rounding the Cape of 
Good Hope in sight of Table Mountain, were 
passing I he Pillars of Hercules, were crossing 
the mysterious Sargasso Sea. were seeking 
whales in the Antarctic Ocean, or killing seals 
oft" the Aleutian Isles. For all of his ships. 
there was safe and welcome haven in Massa- 
chusetts Bay, where they'd finally lie up at 
India Wharf. 

Salisbury had accepted the situation jusl as 
he had accepted life; just as he had attempted 
an education forced upon him at Cambridge; 
just as he had swallowed his hoi coffee in bed, 
each morning. Hut Salisbury was no fool. 
Hack in Boston, re-united to the Somerset 
Club, with its dull, painted walls, its sombre 
reading room, its New England waiters, its 
starched napkins, its Plymouth chef, its Massa- 
chusetts baked-beans on Sunday morning, its 
Vermont maple syrup and hot rice cakes. 
Salisbury was a very differenl man from the 
one we had known at Maria da Praia's and 
ol her haunts of Bohemia. Some vague reports 
of the life he had led in New York had cir- 
culated in Boston. Friends envied him; ene- 
mies sought in vain for damaging information 
regarding escapades that had not occurred. 
Business rivals shook their heads in affected 
distrust, expressing doubt that a man once so 
frivolous could settle down to the dull routine 
of meeting notes, signing checks or computing 
exchange on thirty financial centres of the 
world! Nevertheless, Salisbury succeeded. 
His house never had Keen more prosperous: 
its ships and captains and sailors and cargoes 
went out as before to the four corners of the 
earth, as Argosies for the retrieveinenl of 
American trade, so largely absorbed during 
our Civil War by European competitors. 

Thus did we lose Salisbury as a regular 
companion; but he never came to New York 
without taking al least one meal with all com- 
panions of Bohemian days who could l>e 
"rounded up." Lately, he had introduced an 
idea peculiarly his own. When an interval, 
longer than he thought necessary had elapsed 



364 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 



between his visits, Salisbury sent a proxy to 
eat, drink and make merry with us. The man 
always was of the right sort and such occa- 
sions were rare nights for The Vampire and 
liis prey. The joke market was glutted for 
weeks: so many new ideas found vent. 

Xow, we are back at the night with which 
we began. Maria's was crowded with diners. 
some of whom have been mentioned. About 
the critical moment at which the succulent 
spaghetti was brought on. the street door 
swung wide and a tall stranger entered. His 
Newmarket coat touched his heels. He bowed 
to every one with a single nod. because every 
eye in thi' place was fixed upon him. Before 
he spoke, we had guessed his identity. 

"I come from Salisbury!" he said. 

Spontaneously, every man and woman of 
Bohemia stood up and shouted: 

"He comes from Salisbury; he's welcome!'' 

A seat was made for him at the chief table. 
The Pretty Soubrette-out-of-an-Engagement 
proposed the stranger's health in a neat little 
speech, the motif of which was. "He comes 
from Salisbury!" When the cheering ceased, 
the tall Bostonian rose and, in a voice excep- 
tionally tender and affectionate, thanked the 
merry crowd for the welcome he had received 
and the tribute paid to his friend. 

"On this occasion." he added, "I am the 
bearer of an important message. I am indeed 
a special commissioner from a faithful sub- 
ject to the Court of Bohemia and the generous 
spirits that dwell here. My heart is big with 
information, but new to the formalities of 
diplomacy, I can only speak the words I 
am directed to utter in the frankness of despair. 
Know, then, that our beloved Salisbury has 
taken to himself a wife!" 

Men cheered but the women around the 
board were silent. The Pretty Soubrette 
showed that she regretted her joyful speech 
of the previous moment. However far re- 
moved from the hope or expectation of a 
woman's heart a man may be, she dislikes to 
be informed that he has passed into the pos- 



session of another member of her sex! She 
may affect an indifference not real, but the 
sting of being overlooked remains! Again, 
the special commissioner was speaking: 

"Salisbury directed me to tell you affection- 
ately what many of you well know, namely, 
that when he lost the love of his father and 
of his sweetheart on the same day, you came 
between him and despair. The devotion of 
his parent returned. Xow, the heart of the 
girl he never ceased to love has melted! 
Outside, in a cab, is a wedding cake, baked 
especially for you. It will be brought in 
and cut." 

As the guest sat down, Salisbury's own 
valet entered, bearing a monster cake, snowy 
with icing. It was placed in the centre of the 
largest table. There was little more of the 
regular dinner: its progress was forgotten. 

"A glass of champagne and a piece of wed- 
ding cake for every one!" spoke the guest of 
the night. "Such are the orders of Salisbury, 
—a command that must be obeyed!" 

And it was done. The proxy of the Absent 
One cut the cake and so contrived that the 
piece with the ring fell to the lot of the Pretty 
Soubrette. Then the happiness of life in 
double harness was toasted by lonely Bohe- 
mians, who pretended to hold it in favor. 
Next, the oldest bachelor in the party, a life- 
long scoffer at matrimony, spoke from his 
corner seat: 

"Our dear Salisbury is right, my friends. 
'Better the nest than the wandering wing'; 
more precious the home, wherein Love keeps 
company with a man and a woman, than 
the shallower, ever-hunted happiness that we 
lone bachelors and spinsters seek." 

These words produced a profound impres- 
sion, — cast a momentary damper upon the 
jollity: but many as were the speeches uttered 
during the hours of a quickly moving night, 
no words clung to our memories like those of 
Old "Bachelor Button." 

All of us knew Bohemia to be very well 
as a diversion, bid the real thing is Home. 



HIE BOOK of NEW YORK 



305 



CHAPTER XXVIII 



llow <;ooi) ( ooKIN*. CAME To is 




upon nature s 



]1 1 1'' trade of the cook is as eternal 

as the lulls; we eat to live, 

and some of us live to eat. 

The domestic affections of our 

palates begin without the cook 

as an intermediary and ripen 

into respect for the artisan's 

methods of providing food. 

The magic of the kitchen! Thought of 

it works a spell, memory of it stirs the sense of 

smell and of savory odors. 

What a noble brotherhood is thai of the 
cooks of all creation and all times! Painters 
have been knighted, sculptors have been 
awarded grand crosses of the Legion d'Honor, 
but the con/on bleu of Careme or Vatel is as 
proud an honor as any of the workers in 
colors or in stone ever have worn. In reality, 
a kitchen is a chemical laboratory, wherein 
are studied the economies of heat, the trans- 
mutation of elemental substances into viands 
of golden delight and perfect physical assim- 
ilation. 

The cook's place in the literature of all ages 
is firm as adamant; carpings of splenetic 
dyspeptics cannot disturb his supremacy. 
The grouchy Englishman, who said "(bid 
sends meat, but the devil sends us cooks," 
never had eaten a properly prepared meal. 
An American who doesn't know how to make 
a proper salad dressing is a disgrace to his 
country. Massachusetts owes its intellectual 
and industrial decline to the use of sugar and 
vinegar upon lettuce and tomatoes. Chicago 
with wonderful push and enormous growth 
remains crude and wooly because its citizens 
chiefly subsist upon "pies" — incongruous con- 
coctions of hog's lard, flour ami fruits. Good 
food is the surest proof of high intellectual 
conditions. 

Greek fables glow with references to culi- 
nary art. Homer's warriors, in their camps 
upon the plains of windy Troy, feasted and 



U-<\ at night that they ini-hl die with full 
stomachs in the morning. Roasts were their 
specialty, and one can seethe huge carcasses 
of beeves and sheep, tinned upon massive 
spits over glowing embers and basted by cooks 
that snuffed the savory odors of roasting 
flesh. \ cry little imagination is required to 
conjure up such a vision, if one chooses for 
background the Long Island shore at South- 
ampton, with the Shinnecock Hills for a 
horizon stopper. The scene at Troas was 
quite similar and the beach of sand is identical. 

Keen as was the satire of Aristophanes— 
the Dean Swift of his day and the original 
Charley Iloyt of farce comedy writers — he 
never cast a sneer at cooks! He loved good 
dinners. He bespattered the lawgivers, phi- 
losophers, pedants and the stilted tragedians 
of Athens, but, God love him, he spared the 
cooks, who stirred, and basted, and roasted 
and fried ever to his delight. Aristophanes 
was a fine Grecian gentleman who. early in 
life, had heard the croaking of the frogs in 
Egypt: he learned to prefer the sizzling of 
the frog upon an oiled skillet to the croaking 
of the stoics. He belonged to the "Four Hun- 
dred " of Athens. Tie banquet that the cooks 
prepared for Jupiter, when he assumed mor- 
tal form and masqueraded as Amphitryon, 
probably was as dainty as any could buy 
to-day in the best New York restaurant, but 
no better. What a delightful point Moliere 
makes in his comedy (adapted from old 
Plautus), when the real Amphitryon suddenly 
appears and controversy as to the identity 
of the two persons arises. The line runs: 
'The veritable Amphitryon is he who gives 
the feast." 

True at this hour because he is not the host. 
but the cook. 

Most cooks were slaves in ancient Athens: 
but what of that? Many eminent men were 
slaves. .Esop was one. He learned and 



366 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



composed his tallies while herding goats for 
his master. 1 1 was bad form in Athens to 
be unduly harsh with a well-conducted slave. 
Onlv a drunken debauche of the aristocracy, 
like Alcibiades, might abuse the servile race 
and escape censure; but the unfortunate 
"poor freeman" received harsh treatment 
on all sides, even from favored slaves. He 
was the "Patsy Bolivar" of his day. The 
best Athenian cook came from Andros or 
Chios, or other of the sacred isles. He was a 
Greek! That title caused him to forgel he 
was a slave! Asia never produced a. real cook. 




HI ITEL BELMONT 
(in.- ol Hi'- modern type of high rhiss New \ ork Holds 

Much of Plato's philosophy is as weak as 
was his stomach, because he lived upon noth- 
ing but dates and water. A good cook would 
have prolonged his life and enriched the 
world's literature. Sparta hardened her war- 
riors on sour bread; she always banished her 
cooks when war was imminent. Clever Spar- 
tans! Had digestion and bad temper go 
together. Warfare in those days was quite 
as much a matter ol anger as valor. It was, 
veritably, "war to the knife." 



Rome, in the Augustin period, ate in mod- 
eration, although enormous sums — equal to 
the plunder of a province — were at times 
lavished upon a single banquet. Maecenas 
and Lucullus were hospitable hosts, but never 
gluttons. Lucullus feasted most pompously 
when alone; he would send to Nubia for a. dish 
of rhinoceros' eves or to Syria for a dozen 
peacocks' livers. The hospitality of those 
two men made them immortal, owing to 
Horace and other poets. It was well spent 
money. Hut back of the poets stood thought- 
ful, sincere, ever inventive cooks! They made 
immortality possible to Maecenas, because he 
wasn't '"descended from royal ancestry" at 
all. but came of a race of Etruscan highway- 
men, most of whom died with their sandals 
oil' the ground -cither on a cross" or by a 
method of execution equally effective. That's 
what the cooks did for Horace, Maecenas and 
Latin literature! 

Hut Rome always overdid what ever she 
attempted. Her nabobs lived too high and 
the freemen suffered more privations than 
did the slaves of the rich. She remained 
'" mistress of the world" only as long as the 
majesty of the kitchen was maintained; but 
with Heliogabalus came Syrian chefs who in- 
troduced hideous cooking, concocted from 
recipes handed down to them by Babylonian 
ancestors. An era of gourmandizing began and 
the decline hurried toward the fall. Poor 
cooks and bad cooking were responsible. 

The dismal "Middle Ages" made chaos 
of all cookery. The Goths cared no more for 
cooked food than for the comforts of home. 
Viking meats were devoured raw. Pieces 
were cut from the dying beef and the flesh torn 
with wolfish teeth. 

Cooks invaded England for the first time 
with the Conqueror, although none of their 
names figure on the Battle Roll. After every- 
thing is said in favor of war, tickling the 
palates of a conquered nation is wiser than 
hammering heads or helmets of the subju- 
gated. In 
proper thing! 

As a rule, the cook of the Feudal period was 
more accomplished than his baronial master. 
As for the '"lady"— the grande dame of that 
time — she was a vulgar talking, painted and 



such emergencies a cook is the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



367 



be-plastered jade arrayed in silks and fine 
linens, hut utterly unwashed and uncleanly 
as to skin or morals. Her cook was her in- 
tellectual superior. 

The English Channel always made ;i vasl 
difference al dinner-time. Falstaff deplored 
tish dinners. You wouldn't wonder al this 
if you'd ever seen the sluggish carp in castle 
moats, upon which coin-tiers were fed. The 
Frenchmen. Rabelais, Froissart and Mon- 
taigne, no more real to most of us than the 
British Falstaff, expressed the utmost con- 
tempt for a fish diet -although Victor Hugo. 
of our time, extolled the eating thereof as 
brain-fattening. But there are all kinds of 
fish cooking. The range from sole a la 
Marguery to planked shad at Gloucester is 
very broad, lake eggs, the freshness of the 
fish is a large factor; the best of cooks cannot 
make a stale fish taste sweet. A man of true 
pride and self-respect will not undertake the 
task. 

Literature on the art of cooking made its 
appearance, as nearly as investigation dis- 
closes, about the middle of the seventeenth 
century. The French, having learned all the 
Italians had to teach, set themselves to im- 
prove thereon. Their success has been pro- 
digious. First, they refined all the rules by 
reducing the quantities of ingredients used 
to exact scale of weighl or measure. Loins 
XI\ and the Regent Duke of Orleans were 
sturdy encouragers of their chefs. The Boui- 
llons knew good dinners when they smelled 
them afar. Under them were the most famous 
chefs the world has known -Ude, Careme and 
Vatel! These are names that awaken pride 
to-day in every well-appointed kitchen of 
Europe. 

Even in our modern New York there are 
names that stand for good cooking throughout 
the civilized world: so famous are they that 1 
wish to mention a few of the many that have 
come to he so well known in this art so near 
to the heart of every man. 

There was a period of cathedral building 
in all parts of Europe and its results are seen 
to-day in the beautiful edifices dedicated to 
the cause of religion. In New York, flic past 
score of years may he described as the era 



of the hotel builders. When I firsi came to 
New York, all hotels worth mention were on 
Broadway and did not exceed Four in number, 
namely. Metropolitan, Si. Nicholas, Astor and 
Fifth Avenue. There were others, hul i lux 
hail no claim to distinction. About 1885, 
hotel building began. The results have been 
marvelous. When, therefore, the lime came 
lo eclipse all attempts al hold building that 

had preceded. John Jacob Astor creeled 

the Si. Regis for R. M. Haan. Never was 
such utter disregard for expense shown. Ad- 
mittedly il was the most exquisitely arranged, 
furnished and decorated hotel in America. 
Manx features of home comfort, including 
special facilities for the entertainment of 




lit §u 



till | 

. i. t ; - - 
...... : ; 



* Mia 




■ "~'j j ■ 



si i : i < . i - 1 1 < > 1 1 : 1 



friends by guests during the opera season, 
Horse Show week, the Easter season and al 
other holiday times, give to the St. Regis a 
place apart from all other hotels. The quiet 
magnificence of the place, superior manage- 
ment and a cui>ine thai has become world- 
famous have made il one of the most popular 
hostelries in this city which boasts of the last 
word in hotels. 

Mr. Ilaan's well-earned reputation is he- 
hind this enterprise and its superior location, 
upon the avenue that is the pride of New 
York, gives to il the supreme eminence it 
possesses. Transient guests who appreciate 



368 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



the best of everything will find that they pay 
no more at the St. Regis than at other places 
of acknowledged merit. 

Mr. Haan's large and popular restaurant, 
occupying one-half of the first floor of the 
Park Row Building, is one of the sights of this 
city, — as Taylor's was fifty years ago. 

Switzerland is known the world over for 
the rearing of successful hotel managers. 
They are found at the heads of most of the 
successful establishments in all parts of 
Europe. The name of "Oscar" is a familiar 
one to all lovers of good eating in this city. 
He was born at Cahux-de-fonds in the Swiss 
Republic, September, lS(i(i, and was educated 



when the original Hotel Waldorf was erected. 
A large measure of the success of that estab- 
lishment has been due to him. He tells me 
his greatest hobby is farming. He is a 32d 
degree Mason; also honorary president of 
the Geneva Society and of the New York 
branch of the International Stewards' Asso- 
ciation. 

New York is undoubtedly the greatest hotel 
field in the world; the statement is so thor- 
oughly recognized that its repetition seems 
trite. The capacity of the splendid hotels of 
this city is more than double that of London 
or Paris. Many successful managers of to- 
day have come anion"- us with well-earned 




OSCAB TSCHIRKY 



EDWARD M. TIERNEY 



VV. JOHNSON QUINN 



in the schools of his native country. His 
active career in America began in 1SS3 at 
the Hoffman House, where he soon rose to a 
place of responsibility as caterer to the most 
critical class of patrons known to New York 
hotel managers in that day, among them 
being Roscoe Conkling, B. B. Ilotchkiss, 
John W. Mackay, Chauncey M. Depew, 
Gen. Woodford and David B. Hill. Oscar 
Tschirky served an apprenticeship in every 
part of the restaurant and hotel business, be- 
ginning at the bottom in Switzerland, until 
to-day he has the distinction of being manager 
of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. He left Del- 
monico's to take charge of the dining rooms 



reputations made elsewhere. Among these 
is Edward M. Tierney. present proprietor 
of the Hotel Marlborough and recently presi- 
dent of the New York State Hotel Association. 
Mr. Tierney was born at Susquehanna, Pa., 
November, 1858, and was educated at the 
public schools of his native town. After 
experience as a clerk in various hotels until 
1885, he began for himself. His start was 
made at Binghamton, N. Y.. where, in asso- 
ciation with J. W. Kennedy, the Arlington 
Hotel was erected, which is now conducted 
by Mr. Tierney. These partners subsequently 
leased the Rathbun Hotel at Elmira. In 
1902 Mr. Tierney made a tour of Europe. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



:5(i<> 



Egypt and Palestine. He has been an ex- 
tensive traveler all his life. After the forma- 
tion of the Sweeney-Tierney Company, in 
1904, the Hotel Marlborough, of this city, 
was leased and has been managed l>v Mr. 
Tierney ever since. He is well known as an 
after-dinner speaker and is president of the 
Hotel Men's Mutual Benefit Association of 
the United States and Canada. 

'The Dominion of Canada has supplied the 
metropolis with one of its most successful 
hotel proprietors in the person of W. Johnson 
Quinn, of the Hotel Empire. Mr. Quins was 
born at Durnham, Ormston, Province of 
Quebec, April, 1801, and was educated at 
the Brothers' School, Montreal, and the Tur- 
ner Institute, graduating in 1877. He left 
Montreal in 1882 and has been continuously 
engaged in the hotel business, principally in 
this city, since that time. lie was manager 
of the Hotel Vendome, 1S8!> to 1894; the Hotel 
Arvene, at Arvene-by-the-Sea, 1894-'95; open- 
ed the Hotel Empire in 1N!)4, as manager for 
the estate of William Noble, became pro- 
prietor in 1897 and has conducted it success- 
fully ever since. Mr. Quinn also conducted 
the Allenhurst Inn and Cottage Company, 
at Allenhurst, N. J., and the Long Beach 
Hotel on Long Island; both were Summer 
hotels and both were destroyed by tire. When 
Mi*. Quinn took charge of the Hotel Empire, 
it was thought to be too far uptown, but 
through persistent advertising and special at- 
tention to his guests, it has become one of 
the most prosperous houses in New York. 
Mr. Quinn's parents came from Ireland. He 
is a member of the Catholic Club, the Order 
of Elks, the national, state and city Hotel 
Men's Associations. 

Diners at the celebrated French restaurant 
of J. B. Martin, now at the old Delmonico 
site at Twenty-sixth Street and Fifth Avenue, 
have watched the growth of this business since 
the appearance of M. Martin on the corner 
of University Place and Ninth Street, in 1883. 
He was born at Aix-Ies-Bains, son of a res- 
taurateur. When Count de Lesseps under- 
took the construction of the Panama Canal, 
M. Martin set out for the canal zone and 
started a hotel at Colon. It was far more 
successful than the canal enterprise, for when 



the latter collapsed the young Frenchman 
found himself rich enough lo come to New 
York and start business. During nineteen 
years the Hotel Martin attracted French 
epicures. Its proprietor was the first to 
successfully establish in New York the French 
table d'hote. 

Delmonico had an eating-house somewhere 
far down town; but an event of far greater im- 
portance to the average professional man 
south of City Hall was the appearance of a 
Frenchman, Henri Mouquin, on the lower 
part of Fulton Street in 1857. Many New 
Yorkers had previously enjoyed his excellent 
cooking in a basement room on Nassau St reel ; 
but when he opened a restaurant, reaching 
from Fulton to Ann Streets, editors, reporters, 
lawyers and bankers, who appreciated wine 
with their luncheons, joined in an acclaim of 
welcome. Henri Mouquin demonstrated the 
possibility of supplying a good grade of red 
or white French wine at half dollar a bottle ! 
Caterers of the old school were dissatisfied 
with less than three hundred per cent, profit 
upon foreign wines, and the drinking of any 
beverage except beer with one's meals was 
restricted lo wealthy patrons. In a year's 
time this thrifty Frenchman put a new mint- 
mark upon good living at a reasonable [nice! 
Never were his charges cheap; reasonable they 
assuredly were. New Yorkers who know only 
the fashionable restaurants of to-day cannot 
form any conception what a revelation the 
Mouquin cooking became to appreciative, 
good-livers of the Seventies and Eighties! 
My own satisfaction may be estimated by 
the fact that one waiter. "Peter" served 
me for twenty-seven years! When he died 
he left to his widow four brownstone houses 
in Harlem, — indicating the favor in which he 
was held. 

The business expanded, as it deserved to 
do. For the first time, waiters were studiously 
attentive to the tastes of customers. Never 
was there any hesitation about changing an 
unsatisfactory dish. The aim of the pro- 
prietor was to satisfy his patrons. Every 
complaint was promptly attended to. This 
was a revelation to New Yorkers, who. for 
generations had been compelled to pay for 



370 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



food served to them whether it was in satis- 
factory condition or not. Here, for a novelty. 
the customer was asked exactly how he wanted 
his steak or roast fowl and he could confidently 
expect to receive it as ordered. It' the cooks 
were careles>. a patron never suffered. Mou- 
quin may be truthfully credited with the in- 
troduction of low-priced French wines in the 
l/nited States. — a service to humanity not to 




be forgotten. He also brought to the atten- 
tion of the American public foreign cheeses 
and delicacies that the most fashionable 
grocers hail never kept in stock. Not one 
New Yorker out of ten thousand had eaten 
Pont l'Eveque, Camembert, Gorgonzola or 
Porte du Salut cheeses until he became a 
frequenter of "Mouquin's." There never was 



a dull day's business. Daily new French 
dishes were added to the list: business men 
grew fond of cepes and artichokes, served as 
they are at Fontainebleau and the Cafe 
Bignon, Paris. Of course, some people had 
eaten these characteristically French vege- 
tables at Delmonico's; but such delicacies were 
assumed to be beyond the ordinary purse 
Mouquin showed the fallacy of this. Lovers 
of Thackeray were served with steaming 
toureens of Bouillabaisse, ami inimitable fish 
and side dishes so dear to the French taste, 
at twenty-five cents a portion. A feature 
particularly attractive to regular diners was 
lc p/iil du jour. This differentiated one day's 
meals from the other. A patron could go to 
Mouquin's with confidence that on certain 
days he was sure of his favorite dish. The 
>econd floor of the building was soon added. 
Especially do I speak of a small room in an 
adjoining building to the east added for the 
accommodation of customers from News- 
paper Row. A swinging door only separated 
this "sanctum" from the larger dining room. 
but the exclusiveness was generally respected 
by men in other professions. In this out-of- 
the-way-nook, 1 have frequently seen Charles 
A. Dana. William Cullen Bryant, Park God- 
win, Mayo W. Hazeltine, John Bigelow, Amos 
J. Cummings, John Hay. Whitelaw Reid. 
Manton Marble. William Henry Hurlbert, 
Thomas B. Connery. John Russell Young, 
John R. Stockton. Albeit Pulitzer. Louis J. 
Jennings. George Jones and many others. 

About the time Henri Mouquin was estab- 
lishing himself on Fulton Street (1870), the 
present head of the business, his son, Louis C. 
Mouquin, was born in the Ninth Ward of this 
city. Young Louis first entered the New York 
public schools and then finished his education 
in France. Switzerland and Germany. He is 
an accomplished linguist. On his return from 
abroad, he took an active part in the conduct 
of the business, and when 'The Knicker- 
bocker Cottage." an historically prominent 
tavern on Sixth Avenue, was remodeled and 
added to the Mouquin outfit, he was placed 
in charge. He is an exceedingly popular man, 
voung looking for his years. 



THE HOOK of NEW VORK 



:;: i 



In speaking of the hotels and restaurants of 
the city, a thought comes of the brewers of the 
country, and a few words about the National 

Association may not be amiss. 

The I nited States Brewers' Association, 
organized in November, 1SU-2. is an indirecl 
product of the most momentous crisis of our 
national life. The beer tax, a pari of the in- 
ternal revenue system, then embracing every 
branch of commerce and industry, was the 
direct tangible cause of its organization. 

Unbiased historians admit that the more 
important border States were saved for the 
Union by the German- Americans, and among 
them — as in fact throughout the country, even 
in the South -the brewers distinguished them- 
selves by their willingness to give active sup- 
port to the l nion cause. 

The first revenue laws were crude and de- 
fective, and frauds were inevitable. The law- 
makers sought remedies for these delects; hut 
above all. they looked for a tax-method en- 
suring safe and easy collection and the pre- 
vention of fraud. It was the organized brew- 
ers' avowed purpose to assist the Government 
in the accomplishment of these objects. 

When in 1865 Congress created a Special 
Revenue Commission with a. view to per- 
fecting the system, the United Slates Brewers' 
Association again volunteered its assistance, 
and at its own expense sent a committee to 
Europe for the purpose of studying the excise 
methods in the various beer-producing coun- 
tries. 

Under special instruction from the Treasury 
Department, the Special Revenue Commis- 
sioner attended the brewers' convention at 
which this committee reported. The brew- 
ers' report became a public document, not 
inferior, as impartial critics admit, in any 
respect to the official dissertation on revenue 
of which that period was so prolific. ( longress 
adopted the system which was proposed by 
the brewers, and which in its essential features 
remains in force to the present day. 

In 1875 Massachusetts abolished Prohibi- 
tion on the strength of a voluminous official 
report, the outcome of an investigation which 



resulted in a complete negation of every argu- 
ment and presumption in favor of compulsory 
total abstinence. Following this came the 
famous scientific inquiry conducted by Dr. 
Bowditch, which induced thousands of physi- 
cians, journalists, clergymen and authors in 
advocate the use of wine and beer. 

Early in the 80's Prohibition gained the 
ascendancy in Iowa. From this period dates 

the systematic dissemination of literature on 
the drink question by the Association, and its 
effect may he properly gauged by the fact thai 
up lo the era of the Anti-Saloon League of our 
time, proposed Stale Prohibition was defeated 
at the ballot box in ten Slates, and abolished 
in all the New England Stales, excepting Maine. 

Concerning Federal legislation againsl adul- 
terations, this Association assumed an attitude 
which secured to it the respeel and confidence 
of the Agricultural Departmenl and of Con- 
gress. Taking an active pail in the First 
Pure Food Congress, its Committee submitted 
that clause, subsequently adopted by Congress, 
which gave to the manufacturer the rignl lo 
cooperate with the government in the estab- 
lishment of standards. Thai being granted, 
# the Association consistently advocated the 
enactment of a Federal law, and had the grati- 
fication of being complimented for this attitude 
by several industrial bodies that had originally 
opposed Federal legislation. The patriotism 
of the brewers was again manifested during 
the Spanish-American War, when the brew- 
ing industry was subjected to and cheerfully 
paid a double tax. 

During the past five or six years the local 
option movement has assumed formidable 
proportions under the leadership of the Anti- 
Saloon League. On the other hand, a re- 
awakening of the liberal spirit is noticeable 
everywhere. Thanks to the energy of many 
associations of manufacturers and other busi- 
ness men. who realize the destructive ten- 
dencies of the League anil the utter lack of 
fairness in its agitation, the counter-movement 
goes bravely on, and will bring about in lime, 
it is confidently expected, a revulsion of public 
sentiment wherever the natural rights of the 
citizens are threatened or suppressed. 



372 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



CHAPTER XXIX 



THE GREAT METROPOLIS OF TO-DAY 




1MB the tallest building in 
New York, therefore the high- 
est business structure in the 
world, and get your first com- 
prehensive view of the greatest 
port on earth! No matter what 
hour of the day be chosen, you 
are sure to see mammoth steamships at their 
wharves or setting out or arriving. Descend 
and visit the river front and you will hear all 
the tongues of the commercial world. The 
Ear East and the Western Orient are con- 
tributing their wealth to this land. In their 
places, grains of all kinds from our Western 
prairies are going to maintain the physical 
energies of tin- rug-makers of Persia, the ivory 
carvers of the East and the artisans of Italy 
and Southern Europe. Tank steamers are 
loading with oil from Pennsylvania, Texas, 
Ohio and other sections. Cattle by thousands 
and dressed meats by the ship-load, machinery 
for the farm-lands of Russia and Egypt, 
dredgers for the Persian Gulf, typewriters for 
every quarter of the globe, and phonographs 
for Turkey! Only then do you acquire a full 
understanding of the colossal commercial 
enterprises represented here. 

Here is a clearing-house for the whole world! 

Near the Fulton fish-market, where Glou- 
cester sailors are unloading their catch from 
the Newfoundland banks, Malays and China- 
men are carrying ashore cargoes of spices 
from the Indies, silks from Singapore, coffees 
from Batavia, tobacco from Sumatra, and, at 
another pier, crated wild animals from Bengal 
and pythons from the Straits Settlements; 
teas from China and Ceylon, sugar and hemp 
from Manila, human hair from all parts of 
Asia in all a hundred million dollars' worth 
a month are landing at the best of the world's 
markets from a thousand ships of every 
nameable class and are swallowed in a day 
down the voracious throat of New York. 



More than a hundred coast-wise steamers, 
not reckoned above, are transferring the goods 
of one part of this country to another; "whale- 
backs" on the Great Lakes are contributing 
their share by canal-boats from Buffalo; 
vessels of sail and steam from the West Indies, 
Panama and all the Gulf polls are coming 
and going several times each day. It will lie 
a rare occasion, also, in which half a dozen of 
the most modern of Uncle Sam's fighting 
craft are not within the Narrows. 

Sixteen transatlantic steamship companies, 
a fleet of more than one hundred great liners, 
are competing for passengers and freight 
between the new world and the old — with 
business for all of them. Tramp freight 
steamers are countless. New York's 450 
miles of waterfront is twice as great as that 
of London and its commerce exceeds the 
British capital by more than a million tons 
annually! New York's waterfront is barely 
half developed, and by the time it is fully 
opened — including Jamaica Bay— it will meas- 
ure nearly as many miles as lie between the 
Atlantic seaboard and the Mississippi River. 

Where Nature originally placed obstacles 
in the path of New York's commerce, dyna- 
mite and dredging have cleared paths. Rocks 
have been blown out of "Hell Gate," shoals 
have been removed, and a canal 2,000 feet 
wide, seven miles in length and forty feet in 
depth has been dug at vast cost from the 
upper end of the Lower Bay direct to sea. 
It is known as the Ambrose Channel, and 
shortens the preliminary voyage— for distance 
on the ocean is only reckoned from the 
lightship— by more than an hour. Half a 
million dollars were spent in lighting it at 
night! The new Chelsea piers cost the munici- 
pality more than $12,000,000, and the advent 
of the 1, 000-foot steamship has already neces- 
sitated their further extension into the North 
River. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



:{?3 




;*74 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Recent Customs rulings permit ocean grey- 
hounds to come to their docks at auv hour 
of the day or night. So admirably enforced 
have been inspections of all incoming foreign 
steamers or sailing vessels that the arrival of 
infectious diseases is impossible, (inns that 
guard this imperial port are the heaviest 
known: a system of submarine mines has been 
perfected that in a day's notice will render the 
harbor impregnable Lo attack from sea. 
The bottom of the Lower Bay will become a 
network of mines. The Brooklyn Navy 'Said 
is the most important in the country and the 
best equipped. With the opening of the 
Panama ("anal, several new lines of steamers 
will carry United States products to the West 
coast of South America and return with 
argosies that now go to Europe 'round Cape 
I lorn. 

To safeguard ships of all nations, bound to 
this port or leaving it. the Government main- 
tains a complete meteorological bureau atop 
one of the loftiest buildings, to give warning 
of hurricanes or dangerous storms by wireless 
messages. Every steamer on the North At- 
lantic, properly equipped, is told the direction 
and intensity of the threatening storm. 

Over this great harbor towers the stately 
( roddess of Liberty — gift of the French people, 
to whom the American patriots of the Revolu- 
tion pointed the way to freedom. 

To tell the story of such a city would mean 
the writing of the history of the American 
people. It represents the tireless energy of a 
new nation; but, perhaps the most interest- 
ing feature is the study of the men who are 
carrying on the great work founded by the 
fathers. This book has included the names 
of many men who are at the forefront of the 
battle today, — all builders of this great city— 
this chapter will contain a review of a few of 
the prominent men and firms who are en- 
gaged in the direction of the financial inter- 
ests which are such a stupendous factor in 
New York, the money centre of the western 
world. One realizes that this city draws into 
its labors the strong, the vigilant and the 
brave; there is no place here for the weak- 
ling, life is too strenuous, and the current 
soon carried the sluggard to the outer shores. 



To lie successful in New York means more 
than success in any other city in the world, 
and the pages of this book are filled with 
those who are carrying the burdens of this 
wonder citv on their efficient shoulders. 




WALTEK E. FREW 



Many successful bankers have started their 
careers as merchants. An example of a suc- 
cessful change from general merchandise to 
finance is found in Walter Edwin Frew, now 
at the head of a great hanking institution of 
this city. He was born in Brooklyn, July, 
lS(i4. and educated at the Greenpoint Acad- 
emy and the public schools. He entered the 
employ of Shepherd, Knapp & Co., where he 
remained six years, going thence to the 
Eleventh Ward Bank as a clerk in 1885. We 
next find him as cashier of tin 1 Queens County 
Bank. Long Island City, four years later, and 
its president in IS)).), which position of trust 
he held for four years. Thence he went to 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



375 



the Corn Exchange Hank as a director and 
vice-president, since becoming its president. 
Mr. Frew is associated with many financial 
institutions. For example, he is a director in 
the Bankers' Trust Company, the United 
Button Company, secretary and treasurer of 
the Queens County Safe Deposit Company, 
and trustee of the Dry Dock Savings Hank. 
He served as secretary of the New York Clear- 
ing House Association and during the panic 
of 190? was member of its Loan Committee, 
which sustained many financial institutions 
from disaster during that critical period. 

Among the men prominent in the banking 
circles of the city is Alexander Walker, presi- 
dent of the Colonial Bank. 

Mr. Walker was born in the parish of Rat- 
ford. Morayshire, Scotland. June 25, 1852. 
He was educated in the parish school of the 
town of his birth and upon the completion of 
his studies became an apprentice to a stone 
cutter in Forres. Scotland. After coining to 
New York City he followed the same trade 
and at the same time studied in the evening 
high school. He then commenced business 
for himself as a partner in the firm of Gillie & 
Walker, and subsequently became a member 
of the real estate firm of Walker & Lawson 
and is still engaged in large realty transactions 
and building operations. He has been con- 
nected with the Colonial Bank since its or- 



ganization and its president since IS!).'), and 
is also vice-president of the Standard Mortgage 
Company, a director of the Greenwich Hank, 
and trustee of the Harlem Savings Hank. 
Mr. Walker is a member of the (handier of 
Commerce, St. Andrew's Society, president of 
General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, 
New York Historical Society and the New 
York Scottish Society. 

( )f old New England ancestry and inheriting 
the sterling integrity and business acumen of 
his forebears. Henry C. Hulherl has through 
his own efforts risen to high position in the 
financial world of New York City. Mr. 
Hulberl was horn in Fee, Mass., December 
1!). L831, and was educated at the district 
school and Lee Academy, after which he was 
employed in stores in Lee and Pittsfield, Mass. 
He came to New York City when nineteen 
years old and entered the employ of White & 
Sheffield, wholesale paper dealers. He was 
given an interest in the profits after the fourth 
year and the year following became a partner 
in the firm of J. B. Sheffield & Co. In 1858 
he organized the firm of II. C. & M. Hulbert, 
and in L872 bought out his partners' interesl 
and admitted to partnership two young men, 
Joseph II. Sutphin and George F. Hulbert, 
who had heen brought up in the business. 
The firm was II. ('. Hulbert & Co. from 




ALEXANDER WALKER 



HENm C. HULBERT 



\N l"N \ I! \\ IN 



376 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



187 l 2 until 1900, when he retired. Mr. IIul- 
bert is a director and vice-president of the 
Importers and Traders National Bank. South 
Brooklyn Savings Institution and the Brooklyn 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chil- 
dren; a director and member of the Executive 
Committee of the Pullman Company and the 
Celluloid Company: director of the United 
States Life Insurance Company and the 
Franklin Trust Company: life member of the 
New York Colonial Wars Society and the 
New England Society of both New York and 
Brooklyn, and is a member of the Chamber of 
Commerce of New York. 

The commercial interests of New York are 
under large obligations to the Island of 
Curacao, because it has given to us one of 
the foremost insurance men of this country. 
Except for small discrepancies of latitude and 
longitude, the Garden of Eden might well 
have been located in Curacao, in the Dutch 
West Indies. Of beautiful spots that have 
come under my eye, in various parts of this 
globe, this little island is one of the fairest. 

Upon this happy and peaceful tropical 
isle, Anton Adolph Raven was born in the 
year 1833. His father was John R, Raven, 
a name that indicates English ancestry; his 
mother was O. Petronella Ilutchings. de- 
scended from Knickerbocker ancestors, who 
went from New York to Curacao, a genera- 
tion earlier. 

Anton Raven came to New York in 185 L 2, 
when 17 years of age, and entered the service 
of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. 
When he became a clerk in the employ of this 
corporation, his position was one of com- 
paratively little scope and importance. Dur- 
ing the last half century, the rise of Atlantic 
Mutual Insurance Company to its present 
preeminent position has kept pace with the 
steady progress of Anton Raven to its presi- 
dency. His financial rank, as the head of 
this great company, is indicated by the respon- 
sible positions he holds as trustee of the New 
York Life Insurance Company, vice-president 
of the Metropolitan Trust and of the Home 
Life Insurance Companies, and as a director 



of the Fidelity and Casualty Company, the 
Bank of New York and the Seaman's Savings 
Bank. 

Mr. Raven's heart and purse are always 
open to worthy objects. He also takes an ac- 
tive interest in civic reforms. He is a con- 
stant patron of science and art. being a mem- 
ber of the American Geographical Society, the 
American Museum of Natural History (Life 
Member), and of the Metropolitan Museum 
of Art. His clubs are the Hamilton and 
Montauk of Brooklyn, of which borough he 
is a resident. 

The splendid building occupied by the com- 
pany, a. the corner of Wall and William 
Streets, is one of the finest office structures 
in a city of skyscrapers. It towers high above 
surrounding edifices, having for nearest neigh- 
bor the ancient custom house, reconstructed 
for the use of the City National Bank. 

When the two cities of Manhattan and 
Brooklyn were tied together by the opening 
of the first Brooklyn bridge in May, 1883, 
the manifest destiny of Greater New York 
was seen. Although Brooklyn has profited 
more than Manhattan from that subsequent 
means of communication, both boroughs are 
stronger for the union. No one has labored 
more sturdily to effect and cement this con- 
solidation of interests than Julian D. Fair- 
child. One by one, he has seen bridges added, 
but the proved value of the first one led to the 
construction of the others and every new 
structure of the kind has merely confirmed 
the accuracy of Mr. Fairchild's original views. 
Despite the thought and time he has given 
to public interests, characteristic modesty 
twice induced him to decline the highest honor 
in the gift of his fellow citizens. He was 
offered the Democratic nomination for Mayor 
of Brooklyn in 1894. but refused it. When 
the greater city was first organized, he likewise 
objected to being nominated for City Comp- 
troller. This action was not taken because of 
disinclination to assume responsibility or to 
undertake arduous work for the city, but for 
the reason that he believed he could serve the 
public equally well without holding office. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



377 



The erection of the Williamsburg bridge 
was one of the most businesslike and properly 
conducted public works ever accomplished 
by the City of New York. Mr. Fairchild 
held the position of treasurer of the Commis- 
sion having charge of this undertaking and 
helped materially to sustain public confidence 
during the progress of the work. The com- 
pleted structure stands to-day as an example 
of what can be accomplished even in graft- 
ridden New York: the bills for its erection 
were as closely scrutinized as though they had 
been presented to a business house and fewer 
"snakes" crept in than in any public enter- 
prise of recent years. 

Julian I). Fairchild came from Connecticut, 
where he was born at Stratford. April. 1850. 
He attended public schools in Stratford and 
New Haven. His family is of English de- 
scent. Thomas Fairchild crossing the sea to 
wed Sarah Seabrook, of Puritan stock, in 
1637. Before his schooling was complete, 
young Fairchild sought employment with a 
manufacturing house in New Haven, to which 
city his parents had removed. By industry 
and intelligence displayed, while employed 
by this firm, his prospects were advanced ma- 
terially. Having saved the money thus earned 
he started a store of his own which proved 
exceptionally successful and raised him to the 
position of a small but independent capitalist 
in the '"Elm City." He was exceedingly de- 
sirous to take a course at Yale College, but the 
.struggle for existence prevented. After being 
identified with several industries in New 
Haven, he invaded what is to-day the City of 
New York and eventually developed into a 
capitalist of large proportions. He was elected 
president of the Kings County Trust Com- 
pany, in 1893. an institution in which he had 
been interested since its inception. Soon after 
he became a director of the Bedford Bank. 
Lawyers' Title Insurance and Trust Com- 
pany. National City Bank and many other 
corporations. Ever since Edison had success- 
fully subdivided the electric current. Mr. Fair- 
child has taken interest in "the new light" 
and was early in the activities that led to the 
formation of the Edison Electric Illuminating 
Company of Brooklyn. Despite the fact that 
he was an enthusiastic advocate of bridges 




JULIAN li FAIRCHILD 

and tunnels connecting the two boroughs, 

Mr. Fairchild accepted the presidency of the 
Union Ferry Company, hoping to restore his 
fortune — seriously impaired by the bridges 
and tunnels he had advocated. In this, as in 
all things, his thoughts were centered upon 
the fortunes of the two cities rather than upon 
any profits that might accrue to the stock- 
holders of individual corporations. This un- 
selfishness characterizes Air. Fairchild's whole 
life. His declination of the Democratic nomi- 
nation for Mayor in 189(i has been referred to. 
He is a regent of the Long Island College 
Hospital, president of the Brooklyn Central 
Dispensary, member of the Chamber of Com- 
merce and of the Brooklyn. Montauk, Carle- 
ton and Dyker Meadow clubs. 

Banking in America has become one of the 
fine arts: no professional pursuit requires 
keener judgment, readier resource or broader 
scope of national affairs than the conduct of 
a successful banking institution in New York 
or any large city. The highest type of indi- 
vidual integrity is also essential capacity and 
experience being a condition precedent. One 
must carry in his mind the standing and credit 
of all prominent business industries of the 
community to properly safeguard interests 



378 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




j:h\vai:i> E \i: 



ELIAS A DE LIMA 



LOUIS 



K VUFMAN 



committed to his care. A bank president 
must possess qualifications necessary to insure 
success in uearlv every other branch of com- 
mercial life, as well as professional service. 
In this respect he is much like the chief editor 
of a metropolitan newspaper, because he can 
only acquire such knowledge when he has 
begun at the bottom and grown with his ad- 
vancement until he lias reached the pinnacle 
of his capacity and ambition. I am led to 
dwell upon the requirements of the modern 
bank president in contemplating the success- 
ful career of Edward Earl, President of the 
National Nassau Bank of New York. He 
entered that institution in January, 1887, 
when a young man. as an assistant bookkeeper, 
with no other capital or influence save a good 
character and a resolute determination to com- 
mand respect and advancement. His natural 
abilitv and close application to business ad- 
vanced him in eleven years to the post of 
assistant cashier. In another nine years 
(1!)()7) he became cashier. Soon thereafter 
the responsibilities of the active management 
of the bank Fell upon his shoulders, owing to 
the illness of the then president. Opportu- 
nity to exhibit the value of 20 years' practical 
training brought out the dominant forces of 
his character! His sole attention was directed 
to strengthening and increasing and broaden- 
ing the Nassau Bank. When elected cashier 
the deposits were $3,800,000; but in Novem- 
ber. 1908, when he became the executive head 
of the bank, less than two years later, thev had 



grown to $6,000,000. In February, 1910, 
hardly a year after he became president, the 
deposits were $8,830,393, having much more 
than doubled in the first three years of Mr. 
Earl's management. On November 1, 1911, 
the deposits were $13,592,625, and the total 
resources were $14,!)S4,4?.), showing the most 
remarkable increase of over 310 per cent, in 
resources in less than four years. 

Be it remembered that the training of this 
young man was in an atmosphere of conser- 
vatism. During the panic of 1JX»7-N not a 
customer of the National Nassau Bank was 
refused accommodation. 

One of the latest accessions to the ranks of 
bank presidents in this city drawn from the 
Middle West is Louis G. Kaufman, president 
of the Chatham & Phenix National Banks, re- 
cently consolidated, with resources exceeding 
$20,000,000, in their new building at Broad- 
way and John Street. Mr. Kaufman hails 
from Marquette, Michigan, of Dutch descent 
on his mother's side and of German ancestry 
on his father's. He was born in 1<S?^ and his 
early education was received in the public 
and high schools of his native town. A\ hen 
nineteen he entered the Marquette County 
Savings Bank and rose to be its cashier man- 
ager in 1<S!)N. He soon after became vice- 
president of the First National Bank of Mar- 
quette and was chosen its president in 1 !)<><>. 
The Chatham National Bank was established 
in 1851 in Chatham Street, but came to the 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



.'57 !> 



Broadway corner il now occupies in 1S(>(). 
Mr. Kaufman was elected to the presidency 
thereof in 1910. He is also ;i member of the 
executive council of the American Bankers' 
Association and an ex-presideni of the Michi- 
gan State Bankers' Association. 

Young men who intend to pursue commer- 
cial careers display much wisdom when they 
acquire a knowledge of law. Elias A. de Lima. 
a successful hanker, prepared himself for his 
lifework by taking a degree in Science at Cor- 
nell University in 1886, and another in law al 
Columbia. lie was born at Curacao, Dutch 
West Indies, in 1865. lie was admitted to the 
New Yoik Bar in 1889, meanwhile having 
become a member of the firm of I ). A. de Lima 
& ( lompany, and a director and advisory coun- 
sel of the Staten Island branch of the Corn 
Exchange Bank and trustee of the S. R. Smith 
Infirmarv of Staten Island. He takes a oreal 
interest in art and in the bcautifieation of New 
York. 

After forty-three years of constantly in- 
creasing business, the Excelsior Savings Bank, 
is now quartered in the new fireproof edifice 
at the Northeast corner of Twenty-third Street 
and Sixth Avenue. For many years il occupied 
the store in Booth's Theatre at the Southeast 
cornei' of Twenty-third Street and Sixth 
Avenue. Later it removed to the Masonic 
building on the opposite corner and remained 
there until the building, which was erected in 
INTO, was demolished in order to erect a nine- 
teen-story modern edifice in which the bank 
is now located. The institution's prosperity 
is shown by over $12,000,000, of deposits anil 
surplus, which plainly indicates the necessity for 
its handsome new quarters. The officers of the 
bank are: President, William .1. Roome; firsl 
vice-president, James (\ Gulick; second 
vice-president, William II. Barron; secretary. 
John ('. Griswold; assistant secretary. Arthur 
Plage; counsel. John ('. Gulick; trustees, 
James ('. Gulick, John C. Gulick, Robert ('. 
Brown. Henry Dazian, William II. Barron, 
William J. Roome, Henry I). Brewster, John 
Burke. Joseph J. Little. Robert J. Horner. Wil- 
liam Crawford. Rich. G. Hollaman, Patrick 
F. Griffin, Ephraim M. Youmans and Benj. A. 
Hegeman, Jr. 



'The reputation of the bank for prompt, 
courteous and efficient service on the pail of 
its employees, is one of the reasons for ils 
popularity and rapid growth. In order to 




m 

'?*■■■ 



THE EXCELSIOR SAVINGS HANK 
Chartered in 1869 



facilitate the business of those who cannot 
appear in person at the hank, it publishes a 
leaflet which explains how accounts can be 
opened, deposits made and drafts effected, by 
mail. This will be sent to anyone applying 
for it. This hank deserves the patronage and 
confidence of all those seeking a depository, 
which is conservative and safe and. al the 
same time, progressive. 

The Union Dime Savings Bank, occupying 
its own handsome building at Sixth Avenue and 
Fortieth Street, shows a remarkable growth 
for the fifty-three years of its existence, having 



380 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



:i surplus of $2,975,088.57. Its directorate in- 
cludes sonic of the best known business men 
in the city. 

The only man I ever knew to attain the 
presidency of a metropolitan surety company 
at M lie age of twenty-seven, in this city 01 tre- 
mendous rivalry, is William M. Tomlins. Jr. 
The career of tin's young man is as interesting 
as has been the growth of his corporation 
since he became associated with it. lie was 
born iu Brooklyn in 1878 and is a product of 
the public schools, graduating from the High 
School at the remarkably early age of sixteen, 
secured an unimportant clerical position with 



his vote for the candidate that he believes 
most worthy. He is a member of the Law- 
yers* and the Underwriters' clubs. He is an 
enthusiastic Elk and Mason. 

Wall Street has for years rested under a 
cloud of misapprehension and distrust. Iso- 
lated instances of disgraceful and dishonest 
conduct in the financial world have been 
blamed on Wall Street as a whole. No one 
ever rose iu defense of Wall Street or endeav- 
ored to show its line character. It has per- 
haps been this policy of silence which has done 
more to confirm the bad impressions than any- 
thing else. In the latter part of 1906 




Col. ROBERT M THOMPSON 



WILLIAM M 



WILLIAM (' CORNWELL 



the Lawyers' Surety Company of New York. 
lie remained with this corporation until 1900, 
when he joined the American Bonding Com- 
pany, soon receiving an oiler of an agency 
for the United States Fidelity & Guaranty 
Company. A year later he entered the ser- 
vice of the Empire State Surety Company, 
soon becoming secretary, the following year 
vice-president and then president. His rise 
through the various official grades to the chief 
executive position was due entirely to the sug- 
gestions constantly made by him for the im- 
provement of the company's service. lie 
found the organization with a capital of barely 
$125,000, and in less than eight years has in- 
creased its capital to a half million with assets 
of over $1,200,000. Air. Tomlins takes no 
active pail in politics, although he always 
exercises the right of citizenship bv casting 



Win. ('. Cornwell, who was associated with the 
Stock Exchange firm of J. S. Bache & Co., 
and who always believed that Wall Street 
should have some medium which would ex- 
press the true sentiment of the street, began 
the endeavor of publishing something more 
nearly embodying the larger ideas of that part 
of the financial world. The (inn. for many 
years, had issued a weekly financial review 
of the usual character of stock market letters 
and pertaining mainly to the speculative situ- 
ation. Mr. Cornwell took over the writing 
of this periodical and made of it a small 
editorial sheet covering all events of impor- 
tance, political as well as commercial, affect- 
ing the financial situation. Every subject 
was treated fearlessly and without prejudice. 
Mr. Cornwell had long been a financial writer 
of prominence and his stvle was clear-cut. 



THE HOOK of NEW VOIJK 



381 



condensed and picturesque, and the Review 
soon began to be more quoted throughoul the 
United States than any other issue of its kind. 
The views on political and national questions 
were particularly sound and frequently led 
popular thought and forecasted final judg- 
ment on the problems of the day. Mr. Corn- 
well had for many years been a successful 
writer and student of the currency question, 
and his publications in the anti-silver cam- 
paign were the text-books for newspaper 
writers of that period. lie was one of the first 
to insist that asset currency was the only kind 
for the United States, and when he first began 
to urge this opinion there were only five other 
men of prominence in the United States who 
believed as he did. The banks almost to a 
unit were against it. To-day the vast ma- 
jority of thinking people agree with his early 
position that the only bases for true bank 
notes are the commercial assets of the business 
world, and no sound plan for Currency Re- 
form is now proposed that does not embody this 
one essential doctrine. The Bache Re- 
view, as it was called by the newspapers in 
the West, which quoted it and based editorials 
upon its utterances, began to be a forceful 
exponent of the real situation and competent 
authorities assert that it has great power in 
molding public opinion in the West and South- 
west and along the Pacific Coast. The 
Review began to find its way to Europe 
and is now eagerly looked for by bankers in 
London each week as an indication of the true 
situation in that country. Its unprejudiced 
character and opinions have given the bank- 
ing firm a high reputation throughout tins 
country and abroad. The Bache Review 
was designated in one of the Western editorials 
"the mouthpiece of Wall Street" and this 
cognomen has become one of its titles in the 
press. Many of the newspapers of the coun- 
try quote the Review each week under the 
headline "What Wall Street Says." All this 
is evidence of the power of one man's pen. 

Who's Win) in New York- gives the 
following about Mr. Cornwell: 

Born, Lyons. X. V.. August li). 1851; son 
of Francis E. and Catherine Livingston 
(Howe) Cornwell; attended private, public 
schools. Cashier of Hank of Buffalo, 1878- 
1893; President City Hank of Buffalo, 1S<):5- 



1901 ; associated with J. S. Hache & ( oinpanv, 
members of New York Slock Exchange, for 
several years past. Founder and first Presi- 
dent American [nstitute of Hank Clerks. 
One of the founders and first president of the 
Xew York Stale Bankers' Association; mem- 
ber Executive Council American Bankers' 
Association, 1893-1896; vice-president for Xew 
York State of American Hankers' Association, 
1893; Chairman, Committee on Education of 
American Bankers' Association, 1897-1900. 
Curator. Buffalo Fine Ails Academy, L874- 
1899; president, Buffalo Society of' Artists, 
1887-1888. Author of many works on cur- 
rency and sound money, and banking sub- 
jects, also author of the Jinrlie Review. 
Clubs: Athenaeum of London, England (hon- 
orary member); City, National Arts. \. Y. 
City; Ellicott of Buffalo (honorary member). 

The banking house of W. X. Coler & Co. 
makes a specialty of railroad, municipal and 
corporation bonds and has representatives in 
several of the large cities. The reputation of 
the firm is national. 

One often regrets that more men engaged 

. ... 

in the strenuous commercial activities of our 

limes,— many of them real heroes of the finan- 
cial struggle,- do not develop fondness for 
literature and art. So many of them are 
literally obsessed with the passion of money- 
getting that the charms of life, to be found 
in association with outdoor sports, books 
and pictures, are overlooked. It was not so 
with the late Dumont Clarke, whom I knew 
as the President of the American Exchange 
National Hank, and as \ ice-President of the 
Press Publishing Company, which owns the 
New York World. Throughout a long business 
career, he was a splendid and preeminent ex- 
emplification of precise honesty, healthy judg- 
ment and conservative energy a type all far 
too rare in our hurrying American business life. 
His counsel was highly valued by his associates 
and, during his long career, eagerly sought by 
men older in finance than he. A memorable 
instance may be mentioned when Mr. Morgan 
called Dumont Clarke, at the height of the 
panic of 1!)07. as an advisor in his successful 
efforl to reverse the tide or lost confidence in the 
financial condition of the country. 

Dumont Clarke is another recruit of the 



182 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




I>1 MONT C] ARK] 
Deceased 



metropolis from that great colony whose in- 
fluence has been so marked over this whole 
country New England. He was born in 
Newport, H. I., in 1840 and died of pneu- 
monia, on December 26, 1909, at his beautiful 
estate in New Jersey. Dumont, where he lived. 
is a borough surrounding his estate and named 
after him. His marriage to Cornelia Ellery, 
at Castleton, Vt., in 1869, was followed by the 
birth of Lewis L., Stanley and Dumont, Jr., 
Mary, Alice and Corinne, three boys and 
three girls. Being what Aldrich described 
himself to be, "a salty boy," that is to say, 
born with the breath of the sea in his lungs, 
Mr. Clarke always was an enthusiastic yachts- 
man; he could sail a boai and swim at an 
early age. How natural, when he came to 
the metropolis, that he should join the New 
York Yacht Club and become one of its most 
enthusiastic members. Mr. Clarke was a 
social favorite in several clubs, and fond of 
sports afield as well as on the water. His 
recreations and his devotion to art and liter- 
ature never impinged upon his commercial 
activities. No task was too complicated For 
him to undertake if the credit of any of the 
corporations with which he was associated 
were to he maintained. A friend once de- 
scribed Mr. Clarke's capacity as "possessing 



all the delicacy and finesse of a diplomatist 
combined with great physical and mental 
courage." 1 have especially in mind services 
he rendered to several hundred thousand policy- 
holders in the reorganization of The Mutual 
Life Insurance Company, when he restored 
popular confidence in an utterly discredited 
corporation. It was no easy task; because 
two other institutions, equally strong, had Keen 
shown to he equally honeycombed by mis- 
management. Into this work Dumont Clarke 
threw himself with the energy and determina- 
tion of a much younger man! The value of 
his name as a director went far to quiel anx- 
ieties among the stockholders anil to as- 
sure the confidence of the general public in 
banks and trust companies with which he 
was affiliated. There never was any question, 
at times of threatened panic or financial de- 
pression, where Mr. Clarke stood. He was 
always on the right side, and opposed to any 
subterfuge involving trickery that would ameli- 
orate conditions. As a director of the New 
York Clearing House Association, his word 
was always a potent force in shaping the utter- 
ances and acts of that body. Throughout 
a long career, he was habitually averse to 
publicity regarding his triumphs in business, 
although he was a sincere advocate of the ut- 
most publicity concerning the financial status 
of corporations that invited the confidence of 
the public. His own dislike to notoriety pre- 
vented earlier and more general recognition 
of his splendid abilities. The greatest work 
of Mr. Clarke's life was the upbuilding of the 
American Exchange National Hank, of which 
his son succeeded him as president. I need 
to mention only a few of the many companies 
of which Mr. Clarke acted as director: Adams 
Express, American Beet Sugar. American Felt. 
Audit Company of New York, Commercial 
Cable, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Fidelity & 
Casualty, the Caledonian. Home. Mutual Life. 
Lawyers' Title Insurance Companies. Knick- 
erbocker Trust. Long Island Railroad. Man- 
hattan Railway. United States Safe Deposit. 
United States Mortgage <!<: Trust and the New 
York Clearing House Building Companies. 
His association with journalism has been al- 
ready stated. His death was a great loss to 
the financial community. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



383 



The firm of X. YV. Halsey & Co. deal in 
bonds in ;ill principal markets. They buy 
and sell railroad, municipal and public utility 
bonds and make appraisements without 
charge for institutions, estates and investors. 

The education and expert training necessary 
to develop a successful bank president in this 
age are such that the man who attains that im- 
portant post must have advanced by gradual 
approach through all stages that intervene 
between a clerkship and the presidency. 
Bank presidents are not born, they are made! 
Samuel S. Conover, now at the head of the 
Fidelity Trust Company, which he organized 
in 1907, was born in Passaic. X. .1.. 1869, 
and received Ins education at the public 
schools. lie began business in New York 
City at the age of fifteen with the New York 
Mercantile Exchange, but was soon offered a 
position in the New York office of the South- 
ern Pacific railroad. He was appointed pri- 
vate secretary to the late .1. Edward Sim- 
mons, president of the Fourth National Bank, 
and continued in the service of that institution 
for ten years. In 1902 he was elected vice- 
president and director of the Irving National 
Bank, becoming its president in !!)<)(>. As be- 
fore stated, he then organized the Fidelity 
Trust Company. Mr. Conover is of Dutch 
extraction, his ancestors settled in New Am- 
sterdam. l(i.'5((. 

The debt of gratitude that intellectual 
Brooklyn owes David Augustus Boody for his 



long and unwavering support of the Brooklyn 
Public Library, one of the largest institutions 

of the kind in the United Stales, will endure 
for all time. Mr. Boody was born in Jackson, 
Maine, in 1837, and was educated at the local 
schools and at Phillips Academy. Andover. 
Mass. The onlv method Kv which an am- 
bitious young man without parental assistance 
could secure an education in those days was 
bv teaching school and using the salary thereof. 
intermittently, to attend institutions of learn- 
ing. Mr. Boody began as a schoolmaster at 
eighteen, studying law meanwhile, and at 
twenty-three was admitted to the bar. He 
practiced for one year, came to New York in 
1862, and entered the banking house of Henry 
II. Boody & Co. Three years later he began 
business for himself and has Keen in the 1 >a tik- 
ing and brokerage business ever since In 
the years which have since passed. Mr. Boody. 
located iii the financial center of the country, 
has witnessed a marvelous growth in the en- 
terprises of our nation. lb' has seen the rail- 
road mileage grow from thirtv thousand to 
over two hundred thousand. He has seen 
the growth of the most gigantic railroad, in- 
dustrial and financial corporations that the 
world has ever known and he has seen New 
York become the second city in tin' world, 
with the prospect of soon becoming the firsl 
in numbers and in financial and commercial 
importance. As Mayor he. together with 
Park Commissioner Brower, located the 




- Wli 1,1. S '•< >NO\ IK 



liWII) \ BOOD'i 



AUSTIN CORBIN 



384 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences on the 
East Side Park Lands. The three buildings, 
the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. 
the Central Building of the Brooklyn Public 
Library and the Berkeley Institute, are all 
located near the Plaza, which Mr. Boody be- 
lieves is destined to become, as an educational 
and art center, one of the prominent places not 
onlv of New York but of the whole country. 
His life is indissolubly associated with the 
initiatory work which is now producing these 
results. 

Mr. Boody has for many years been the 
head of the banking house of Boody, McLellan 
& Company and is also director of the People's 
Trust Company and the U. S. Title Guaranty 
and Indemnity Company, both of Brooklyn, 
and is also president of several minor business 
enterprises. He was elected to Congress in 
the autumn of 1890 but resigned the next year. 
having been nominated for the office of Mayor. 
He served in that position for two years. 

In the midst of his many duties, however, 
he has never ceased during the last thirty years 
to serve the public in some educational or 
charitable way and this sort of service and the 
love he has for it seems to be his chief recrea- 
tion. 

It is a great pleasure to recognize the sturdy 
capacity for work of rich men's sons who never 
have manifested an inclination to waste their 
days in idleness. To this class belongs Austin 
Corbin, son of the late Austin Corbin, a man 
who came out of the West to teach slow New 
Yorkers the splendid advantages of their 
proximity to the ocean by creating Manhattan 
Beach and connecting it with New York by 
steam. Young Mr. Corbin was born in 
Brooklyn, 1873. and had his preparation for 
college at Cutler's School and Westminster 
School, Dobbs Ferry; after which he entered 
Harvard, in the class of '9(>, where he was 
graduated cum laudc. When taking his final 
examination at Harvard, in 1896, Mr. Corbin 
received the sad intelligence of his father's 
death in a runaway accident, at Newport. 
N. II. He came direct to New York to as- 
sume his duties as executor of this large estate. 
He is president of the Manhattan Beach 



ized 




('II M.MKRS DALE 



Estates. — a corporation now creating one of the 
most beautiful seaside villa colonies on this 
Continent: president of the Rockaway Park 
Improvement Company: co-partner in the 
Corbin Banking Company, and director in 
several large corporations. 

Chalmers Dale possesses that peculiar en- 
ergy and executive ability which is character- 
as "American" and which advances 
capable young men in 
this country in situa- 
tions of responsibility 
that in more conserva- 
tive Europe would be 
filled by older men. He 
was born in New York, 
1882, and is a graduate 
of the Hill School of 
Pottstown, Pa., and of 
Sheffield Scientific 
School of Yale. 1904. 
Realizing the responsi- 
bilities devolving upon 
him in the matter of 
large investments of his 
personal estate. Mr. 
Dale undertook the study of the market con- 
ditions and of values and became in 1908 a 
member of the Stock Exchange. Since quit- 
ting the Stock Exchange. Mr. Dale has taken 
a leading part in the direction of the affairs of 
such well-known companies as the Precious 
Metals Corporation, of which he is treasurer; 
the East Canada Smelting Company, and the 
Federal Storage Battery Car Company. His 
office is at 49 Wall Street. He is a member of 
the Crescent and Riding and Driving clubs 
of Brooklyn and of the Lambs and Seawan- 
haka-Corinthian Yacht Clubs. 

The mining of precious metals has become 
one of the great industries of the world. 
Mother Earth has yielded the basis of all 
wealth. A young man who has achieved 
success in the exploitation of mines that were 
genuine producers is Charles Edward Green- 
ough. born in the Windsor Hotel, this city, 
October, 1SS0. The Greenoughs were of 
English stock, descendants of pioneers who 
came hither from Rowley, England, in 1624, 
and settled in Rowley, Mass. Charles Ed- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



: 85 



ward Greenough received his early education 
at St. Paul's School, Concord. X. II., and 
(hen entered the Sheffield Scientific School at 
Vale, where he was graduated with honors in 
the class of 1902. As his family were largely 
interested in the Portland mine at Cripple 
Creek, Col., young Greenough earnestly 
pursued a course of mining engineering at 
Yale. 

About this time Grant 15. Schley, of the firm 
of Moore & Schley, suggested to the young 
man the vast possibilities for the development 
of the mineral wealth of Mexico. Mr. Green- 
ough went to the neighboring republic and con- 
tinued prospecting until he had located more 
than fifty mines and had purchased .'500. 000 
acres of land — property consisting chiefly of 
old ranches, containing fine timber easily ac- 
cessible to the railroads. To handle this im- 
mensely valuable property, the Grand Union 
Mining Company was formed, with Mr. 
Greenough as Treasurer. That a young man. 
not twenty-five, should be selected by New 
York capitalists to manage so large an enter- 
prise indicates the confidence reposed in him, 
as well as his capacity and experience as a 
mining engineer. 

Mr. Greenough has found time to interest 
himself in other enterprises, and is President 
of the International Fire Preventive Company, 
manufacturers of Salamanderite, a fireproof 
substitute for wood; he was recently elected 
President of the Henry L. Lewen Company, 
which successfully introduced a new system 
of reinforced concrete in the United States 
and Canada. He is prominently identified 
with an improved sight for use of firearms. 

In 1909 Mr. Greenough married Miss 
Eleanor Whitridge, daughter of Frederick W. 
Whitridge, the prominent lawyer and re- 
ceiver of the Third Avenue Railroad. Her 
grandfather was the late Matthew Arnold. 
the great English writer. They have one 
son. John Whitridge Greenough. born Octo- 
ber .J. 1911, and christened in Grace Church 
on November Hi. 1911, after the famous John 
Whitridge. Mr. Greenough is a member of 
the Metropolitan, New York Yacht. Aero. 
Delta Phi, Strollers. New York Athletic. 
Baltusrol, Sleepy Hollow, Whitehall, Lawyers', 



and Yale chilis; also of the Sons of the ({evo- 
lution, American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science and Metropolitan Museum 
of Art. 

1 take great pleasure in quoting from a 
recent press notice which serves as an ad- 
mirable summary of this young man prepared 
bv a writer who is in close touch with Mr. 



♦3 






I 




i'H MM ES I GRE] N'TUH 

Greenough's work: "Charles Edward Green- 
ough is the type of man that most young men 
wish they might be. At the age of thirty years 
he has long since looked the world straight 
in the eye and has taken from her that to 
which he is entitled success. His history 
has the happy glow of healthful vigor used 
with good sense. And he is a New Yorker - 
the true New Yorker, such as we seldom see 



386 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



and often read about a man with the calibre 
to absorb the atmosphere of the metropolis 
and profit by the experience." 

Among the brokerage and banking houses of 
the city that have connections with all the 
important financial centers, is that of J. S. 
Bache & Co. This firm holds membership 
in the New York Stock. Cotton and Produce 
Exchanges; the Chicago Stock Exchange and 
the Liverpool and New Orleans Cotton Ex- 
changes. It maintains branch offices in many 

cities. 

For twenty years J. Frank Howell has 
been an active and respected member of 

the ( Consolidated Stock 
Exchange of New York 
and is a member of the 
Board of Governors. 
His business has stead- 
ily grown and through 
many panics (hat swept 
away more pretentions 
concerns Mr. Howell's 
business never waver- 
ed, and he carries to- 
day untarnished pres- 
tige; that is all an in- 
vestor can ask or ex- 
pect of a broker, and 
is the reason that J. 
Frank Howell prospers. 
He keeps in constant touch with his customers 
by the publication of a daily market letter and 
The Market Review Digest, which he edits 
and issues weekly. Formerly Mr. Howell 
was a newspaper man of some prominence 
and the neatly printed and illustrated publi- 
cation is his hobby and his customers' guide. 
It is sent free upon request to those interested. 
Integrity, conservative methods, character. 
safety and honesty of purpose are the attri- 
butes which have served to give Mr. Howell 
success and a comfortable fortune. 

A house that has made a reputation for 
conservatism, since its formation seven years 
ago, is that of McCornick Brothers. They 
do a strictly commission business and have a 
large following. 




Photoby "Li 

J. FRANK HOWELI 




ELBRIDGE G SNOW 



Elbridge Gerry Snow, President of the Home 
Insurance Company, was born in Barkham- 
stead, Conn., January i 2-2. 1841. His educa- 
tion, begun in the district and high schools, 
was completed in the Fort Edward (X. Y.) 
Institute. After his graduation he studied 
law. but instead of engaging in practice he 
entered an insurance office in Waterbury, 
Conn. In 1862 he obtained a clerkship in the 
main office of the Home Insurance Company, 
in New York City, and since then his connec- 
tion with the company has been continuous. 
He remained in the main office for nine years, 
then went to Boston as state agent of the com- 
pany for Massachusetts; and. w bile there, 
also became a partner in a local agency rep- 
resenting several of the best companies, under 
(he firm name of Ilollis & Snow. In 1885 
Mr. Snow returned to New York City as sec- 
retary of the company, became its vice- 
president in ISMS, and since 1!)04 has been 
president of the company. 

Besides being at the head of this great com- 
pany, Mr. Snow is a Trustee of the New York 
Fife Insurance Company, and is a director of 
the North River Savings Bank and other cor- 
porations. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



:;st 



Among the City's strong: and able banking 
institutions, none perhaps is better, or more 
favorably known than the house of Redmond 
& Co., which, since its organization in 1892, 
has grown steadily until it is one of the leaders 
among New York's large financial institutions 
and has correspondents and agents in all 
parts of the world. The firm of Redmond & 
Co. was founded by the late senior partner, 
Mr. Henry S. Redmond, ami is now composed 
of Mi-. Franklin Q. Brown, Mr. W. Redmond 
Cross. Mr. James C. Bishop. Mr. Otto J. 
Thomen and Mr. J. F. B. Mitchell, all of 
whom have long been prominently engaged in 
financial and railway matters, not only in 
New York City, but throughout the entire 
country. Possibly the best known among the 
group is Franklin Q. Brown, the senior mem- 
ber of the firm, who was for many years vice- 
president of the Plant Systems of railroads, 
president of The Plant Investment Company 
and president of several Southern railways. 
He is now a director and member of the 
Executive Committee of the Knickerbocker 
Trust Company, director and Chairman of 
the Executive and Finance Committees of the 
National Surety Company, director and mem- 
ber of the Executive Committee of the Sea- 
board Air Line Railway, director of the Vir- 
ginia Railway and of many oilier financial 
institutions. 

Mr. W. Redmond Cross is a director in 
various railroads. Mr. .lames C. Bishop, is a 
director in the Mechanics and Metals National 
Bank, the Auburn Trust Company and other 
institutions. Mr. Otto J. Thomen is a mem- 
ber of the New York Stock Exchange and a 
trustee of the Staten Island Savings Bank and 
Mr. J. F. B. Mitchell is a recognized expert of 
many years' experience in railroad and public 
service corporations. These five men. com- 
prising the firm of Redmond & Company, 
have long been prominenl in bringing out new 
and important bond issues of steam and street 



railways, lighting companies and similar enter- 
prises. The firm is known for its conserva- 
tism; has connections and ramifications in 
every foreign financial centre and its Letters 
of Credit and Travelers' Cheques are known 
the world over. 




The New Banking House of 
REDMOND & COMPANY 



The firm's offices are in its marble building 
of beautiful and impressive design. The 
building is thoroughly up-to-date in every 
respect and is equipped with the latest modern 
devices in the way of vaults for the safekeeping 
of securities and other valuables, and ever) 
known improvement for the expeditious con- 
duel of a large banking business. The in- 
terior of the offices, like the exterior, conveys 
a.n impression of solidity. There has been no 
attempt at gaudy decoration and the plainness 
is elegant and suggestive of strength. The 
reputation of Redmond <\. Company being 
international and the architectural beauty and 
elegance of ils offices being widely known, a 
portion of each business day has |<> be set aside 
for flic reception of foreign bankers, corre- 
spondents of the firm and many others who 
come lo see the building and the facilities of 
this model, modern up-to-date American bank- 
ing house. 



388 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Modern life has so increased the dangers of 

existence that far-seeing men have created 
corporations for the financial safeguarding 
of humanity in eases of accident. ( )ne of the 
best known institutions in this line of semi- 
philanthropic effort is the Fidelity & Cas- 
ualty Company of New York, the managers 
of which, in this city, are E. E. (Map]) <S: Co. 
This firm paid to the Fidelity & Casualty Com- 
pany, on account of last year's business, nearly 
$1,500,000. The directing head of this firm, 
Edward Everett Clapp, comes of Colonial 

stock and was born at 
Holyoke, Mass.. Jan- 
uary, 1838. At the 
age of 23 Mr. Clapp 
sailed for China. 
where he engaged in 
the cotton industry.— 
being among the first 
foreigners to do so. 
The close of the Civil 
War caused a. cessation 
of that industry there 
and lie returned to 
the United States in 
1ST.) and entered the 
insurance business 
in Albany. In 1881 
he came to New York as General Man- 
ager of the Casualty Department of the 
Fidelity & Casualty Company for the States of 
New York, New Jersey. Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island, and to-day his firm is the most 
important concern in its line in the world. 
He is a member of the Union League, the 
Down Town Association, the Peace Society, 
the Economic Club of New York, the Essex 
County Country Club and the New England 
Society, of Orange, the Republican Club of 
East Orange and the Society of Colonial Wars 
of the State of New Jersey. lie is also a 32d 
degree Mason. 

The insurance men of this country are 
among its brainiest, most energetic and most 
successful citizens. To take high rank among 
its leaders requires ability of the rarest order, 
and the widespread and enviable reputation 
enjoyed by Mr. Clapp and his firm is one of 
which any man might he proud. 




KllWAKI) K CLAPP 



The world's debt to Italy never can he paid. 
The large Italian population of New York 
has contributed so much to this city's adorn- 
ment that feelings of gratitude must inspire 
whatever words are said in praise of it. One 
man who has particularly distinguished him- 
self as an adopted citizen of our metropolis is 
Cesare Conti, hanker and steamship agent, 
who came among us as a youth in 1876 from his 
native town of Pontremoli, Province of Massa 
Carara. lie opened an office at 3.3 and 37 
Broadway, in the building that has housed his 
business ever since, at the age of sixteen ( 1SS4). 
lie had a small room on the second floor and 
a smaller office hoy. since which time his 
banking business has developed to large pro- 
portions. Many of his fellow countrymen 
were imposed upon by irresponsible agents 
of private Italian banks, therefore Signor 
Conti aided the Banco di Napoli of Italy to 
establish the guaranteed money order system 
for the protection of emigrants from his native 
country. He was first to interest the Italian 
automobile builders to send their extraordinary 
and famous cars to the United States. His 
long steamship experience, as well as strong 
financial help, were utilized to form the now 
powerful Lloyd Sabaudo Steamship Company, 
the vessels of which form a continuous link 
between this port and the chief havens of 
Italy. Finally, he incorporated the Italo- 
American Stores, for the introduction of prod- 
ucts from the land of his birth and lias created 
a wide and growing market for many classes 
of goods not previously known or appreciated 
in this country. Also being the original dis- 
penser of Green River Whiskey, a noted Ken- 
tucky product. Signor Conti has been de- 
servedly honored by the monarch of his native 
land, having been created a Chevalier of the 
King of Italy. He lias had a prominent part 
in raising funds for the erection of the beauti- 
fill monuments and statues to Garibaldi, 
Columbus, Verrazzano, Verdi and Dante. 
The Columbus shaft at Fifty-ninth Street and 
Eighth Avenue entrance to Central Park is 
the handsomest monument to the Great Dis- 
coverer in existence, excelling the one in 
Columbus' native city of Genoa. The new 
Dante memorial will be a work of art. Space 
forbids even a mention of ail the charities and 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



889 



social organizations to which Signor Conti 
belongs. The Lotos and Columbia Yacht 
chilis always welcome him; he is Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Italian Chamber of Commerce. 

When an American travels abroad, he finds 
of equal importance the securing of passage 
on a fast and staunch steamship and the pro- 
curement of a proper letter of credit that will 
keep him in funds, no matter where he goes. 
The assurance that he will he landed in safety 
on the other side of the ocean is desirable, but 
the gratification of knowing that money is 
easily forthcoming for the expenses of his tour 
exceeds all other anxieties after he is ashore. 
There are many ways of transferrins money; 
but. for a traveler, the letter of credit has 
proved superior to all others. Its safety 
highly recommends it. Travelers' checks, 
such as are issued by Knauth, Nachod & 
Kuhne, are also safe and convenient for the 
tourist in any country in the world and are in 
amounts of from $10.00 to $100.00. 

The banking firm of Knauth, Nachod & 
Kuhne does a large business in supplying 
letters of credit to Americans who travel in 
all parts of the world. In addition to its 
financial value, the bearer of such a certificate 
finds it as good for identification as a letter 
from the Secretary of State. Not only does 
it identify the possessor, but it assures him of 
the ability to proceed upon his journey with 
promptitude. There isn't a city of Europe, 
or Asia, or South America, or the West Indies, 
containing a bank in which such a letter of 
credit cannot be drawn upon. 

This firm has associated with it a capable 
young banker named Oscar Louis Gubelman, 
who has been reared in an atmosphere of 
banking. His first experience was obtained 
in the banks of Jersey City, his birthplace, 
whence he crossed the Hudson to accept an 
important post in a New York bank. He 
was born in May, 1876, and is of German 
ancestry on both sides of his house. His 
father arrived in this country sixty years ago 
and located in the strongly German settle- 
ment on the New Jersey side of the river. 
Young Gubelman was educated at the public 
and high schools of Jersey City, taking a final 
course at the Stevens School. Hoboken. 
When seventeen years old he obtained a 



clerical position in the Third National Bank, 
of Jersey City, lint a year later he went to the 
United States Mortgage and Trust Company, 
where, during six years' service, he received 
thorough training. The efficiency of his work 
caused him to he offered the position of secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Commercial Trust 
Company, of Jersey City, and he was soon 
alter elected ils vice-president. In 1 !)()!• Mr. 
Gubelman was made vice-president of the 
Guaranty Trust Company, of New York City, 
from which post, in 1907, he became a partner 
of Knauth, Nachod i\: Kuhne. Thai he was 




OSCAE 1. GUBELMAN 



an acquisition of strength to the firm is proved 
by the important matters entrusted to his final 
disposition. He is classed among the coming 
men in Wall Street. 

Mr. Gubelman is a director of the Commer- 
cial Trust Company, of New Jersey; secre- 
tary, treasurer and a director of the Eastern 
Construction Company; director of the Electri- 
cal Securities Corporation; director of The 
Mechanics Trust Company, of New Jersey; 
director of the Underwood Typewriter Com- 
pany; director of The Regina Company; di- 
rector of the Locomotive Super Heater Com- 
pany, director of the American Cities Co., <li- 



:5i)0 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



rector of the Computing, Tabulating and Re- 
cording Co., director of the First National 
Bank of West Orange, N. J., and director 
of the Registrar «S: Transfer Co., of New 
Jersey. He is a member of the Auto- 
mobile Club of America. Downtown Associa- 
tion, the Railroad Club, the Essex County 
Country Club, the Deal Country Club, the 
Recess Club and the Jersey City Club. He 
is, also, a lover of outdoor sports, a reader of 
hooks and an intelligent student of the general 
problems of the business world. 

Another descendant of a Revolutionary 
family is Thomas Jewett Hallowell, horn at 
Steubenville, Ohio, December, 1869. He re- 
ceived an education in 
Europe and, returning 
to America, began a 
banking career as clerk 
in the Second National 
Bank of New York 
City. Mr. Hallowell 
became an employe of 
the American Surety 
Company and, later, 
manager of the Fidelity 
Department of the 
Lawyers' Surety Com- 
pany. The banking 
firm of Hallowell «n_ 
Henry was formed. 
Mr. Hallowell served 
in the Spanish-American War as a petty Naval 
officer. lie is treasurer of the Associated 
Maryland Corporation, of the Montague 
Realty Company, the kifchawan Telephone 
Company, and a member of the American 
Rankers' Association. His club is the Play- 
ers'; he is a member of the Sonsof the American 
Revolution and of the Society of ( olonial Wars. 
Occupying a new and handsome building 
at Nos. 49 and 51 West Thirty-third Street, in 
I he hub of New York City, the Mutual Bank 
has every facility for conducting its constantly 
increasing business. The bank was first estab- 
lished in 1SS!) with quarters at Thirty-fourth 
Street and Eighth Avenue; David Stevenson 
was the first president, and after removal to 
Thirty-third Street and Broadway, James 
McClenahan succeeded to the presidency. 
( 'harles A. Sackett has been the executive head 
since !!)•)?, and under his direction the business 




I'UiiMAS .1 HALLOWELL 



567.91. 



new building, 



of the institution has largely increased. The 
capital is $200,000, and the statement of Feb- 
ruary 28, 1912, showed surplus and undivided 
profits of $387,213.50 and deposits of $4,496,- 
(Deposits now $5,100,000.) The 
aside from the advantage of 
being centrally locat- 
ed, is equipped with 
the most improved safe- 
ty deposit vaults and 
every modern device 
to facilitate business. 
The officers are: Presi- 
dent, ( 'harles A. Sack- 
ett; vice-president, 
John C. Van Cleaf; 
vice-president and 
cashier, Hugh N. Kirk- 
land, and assistant- 
cashier, Eugene Gal- 




THE MUTUAL HANK 



vin. The board of di- 
rectors includes: Rich- 
ard Delafield, chair- 
man, Andrew J. Connick, Thomas Dimond. 
Otlo M. Eidlitz, A. P. W. Kinnan, C. W. 
Luyster, E. A. McAlpin, Samuel McMillan. 
Charles A. Sackett. .lames Thompson, John 
C. Van (leaf. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Charles 
P. I'aft and Isadore Taks. 

The present firm of J. L. Newborg & Bn>. 
was formed in 1904 and consists of J. E. and 
Leo D. Newborg. J. L. Newborg has been 
a member of the New York Stock Exchange 
since 1901. The house does a commission 
business exclusively. 

There is a woman in this city actively en- 
gaged in commercial business that it is a pleas- 
ure to know. She maintains that having been 
born in New Hampshire, educated in Massa- 
chusetts and having taught school in Connec- 
ticut, she is necessarily a New Englander. 
Knowing that her chief successes have been 
achieved in this competitive metropolis, where 
nobody gets to the top by accident. I say she 
is a cosmopolitan. Myra Relic Martin is 
descended from pioneer Puritans, but not 
from the " Mayflower." Her frankness in this 
respect is admirable. The Hist acquirement 
for which she can thank her forebears is a 
finished education which has enabled her to 
instruct others. Before she could have voted, 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



391 



1i;k1 she been of the voting sex, she was teach- 
mg Latin, (neck and mathematics and pre- 
paring young men for college. She prepared 
many young men for Harvard, Yale and the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and 
many young women for Smith. Vassar and 
Wellesley, all of whom have done credit to her 
training. In 1889, she gave up teaching and 
came to New York as associate manager of 
the office of the Prang Educational Company, 
of Boston. Even more successful in business 
than she had been in the other Held of educa- 
tional work, since 1S!).'5 she has been engaged as 
secretary of several important corporations in 
the I nited States and Mexico success of 
some of them being largely due to her faithful 
work. For example, she was the firsl secre- 
tary of the Greene Consolidated Copper Com- 
pany, the unlisted stock of which was sold by 
popular subscription. Preparing most of the 
advertising matter, she personally issued to 
two thousand stockholders certificates for one 
hundred and fifty thousand shares of its capi- 
tal stock, countersigned by two prominent 
Trust Companies. She not only personally 
secured for the company the first money so 
vitally important to a corporation, but she 
also handled about $1,250,000 received in 
subscriptions for the stock. This is believed 
to be a record for accuracy unsurpassed by 
any one of either sex in a similar position. 
Her work brought her into business relations 
with many prominent financial corporations 
and she has the confidence of all officials who 
have had personal dealings with her. 

Miss Martin has not allowed devotion to 
business to dull her interest in the better 
things of life. One of the founders of the 
Patria Club, she is president of the Shakes- 
peare Club, is a member of the Municipal Art 
Society, American Scenic and Historic Pres- 
ervation Society. American Anthropological 
Association, National Geographic Society, 
National Society of Craftsmen, life member 
of the National Arts Club, and a Daughter of 
the American Revolution. In charitable work. 
her sympathies lie particularly with children, 
and until the Guild for Crippled Children of 
the Poor was merged in an organization of 
similar purpose, she was a member of its 



Hoard of Managers. Miss Martin has reg- 
istered herself as a law student and looks for- 
ward to taking her examination for admission 
to the bar. And vet the woman successful 
as a teacher, successful in business, and with 
a possibly brilliant future as a lawyer is a 
woman still! She has caughl the spirit of 
success without losing the charm of her sex. 
She is even more at home in her pleasanl 
studio at the National Aits Club than in a 
downtown office, amid the din of business. 
She can converse on literature and art with 
an author or a painter after the day's work is 
done as well as she can talk trade to a stern 
bank president during business hours. 

'Idle man who can teach his fellows how to 
save money is a public benefactor; many of 
ns cannot learn the secret. Walter Francis 

Burns originated the 
Home Savings Bank 
System, which consists 
of a small steel safe into 
which money can be 
placed but cannot be 
extracted except by an 
officer of a financial in- 
stitution having the 
key. So successful has 
this system of securing 
a savings a c c o u n t 
proved that it has been 
adopted by more than 
3,000 banking institu- 
tions in the I nited 
Slates and over .")()() 
banks in foreign countries. Altogether, his 
devices have been placed in several million 
homes. He is president of the Burns Realty 
Company, ami a large owner of Inwood prop- 
erty. Mr. Burns was born at Fredericktown, 
Cecil County. Maryland, and is descended 
from a distinguished Naval family. His father 
was ( aptain ( )w en Burns. I. S. N. : his grand- 
father. Captain Otway Burns, commanded the 
l. S. Privateer "Snap Dragon." in the War 
of 1NH-'1.). To the memory of this patriot, 
the State of North Carolina recently erected 
a monument at Beaufort, and the town of 
Burnsville, named after him. conferred a 
similar honor in 1908. The Burns family. 
originally English, inherited a large tract of 




WALTER 1 BURNS 



392 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



land "ranted by the King to its great-great- 
grandfather in lT.'j'-i, which Walter F. Burns 
now retains as head of the house. 

From the humblest beginning to a position 
of prominence in the financial and commercial 
world forms the life story of Colonel Andrew 
J). Baud, who came from Scotland when a 
boy and locating in Brooklyn started to work 
as a blacksmith's helper for a weekly wage of 
$2.50. He afterward became an apprentice 
to a stone cutter and thoroughly learned the 




ANDREW 1) HAIKU 

art of cutting and fitting stone. He had risen 
to an assistant foremanship when the Civil 
War broke out. but resigned the position at the 
first call for troops and joined the 79th (High- 
lander) Regiment as a private. He fought 
in every battle in which his regiment was en- 
gaged, winning successive promotions for 
bravery until at the siege of Vicksburg he 
had risen to a captaincy and was made major 
at Petersburg. lie was brevetted lieutenant- 
colonel for gallantry at Fort Saunders, Knox- 
ville, Tenn., where with but 14.5 men he re- 
pelled Longstreet's force of 8,000. He was 
several times wounded and still carries a bul- 
let in his left arm. After the war he returned 



to Brooklyn and formed a partnership with 
Robinson Gill, with whom he served his ap- 
prenticeship. He afterwards bought his part- 
ner's interest, and for many years carried on 
the business alone, furnishing the cut stone 
for many important buildings and thousands 
of dwellings and churches. Col. Baird has 
always been interested in politics. He was 
elected a Republican member of the Board 
of Alderman in 1876, serving three terms. 
He was on two occasions candidate for Mayor 
and was only defeated by small majorities. 
In addition to his large interest in the firm 
of Andrew 1). Baird & Sons, he is vice-presi- 
dent and director of the Manufacturers Na- 
tional Hank, vice-president and trustee of the 
Williamsburgh Savings Bank, trustee of the 

DO 

Nassau Trust Company, president of the In- 
dustrial Home, Brooklyn, E. I)., director of 
the Brooklyn Public Library, director of the 
Eagle Warehouse and Storage Company, 
director of the Realty Associates and presi- 
dent of the Brooklyn Tunes. 

One of the strong financial institutions of 
the Metropolis is the Merchants Exchange 
National Bank. With a cash capital of 
$600,000, it has surplus and undivided profits 
of $607,072.19 and deposits of $7,943,511.80. 

Across the river, in Jersey City. N. J., is 
the First National Bank, one of the strongest 
financial institutions in the State. It has a 
capital of $400. 000; surplus and undivided 
profits of $1,306,631.47, and deposits amount- 
ing to $7,338,704.46. The officers are: presi- 
dent. George J. Smith; vice-president, Robert 
E. Jennings: cashier. Edward I. Edwards, and 
assistant cashier, Henry Brown, Jr. 

As a financier, Colgate Hoyt is one of the 
prominent figures in Wall Street affairs. He 
was born in Cleveland, Ohio. March 2, 1849, 
and is now senior member of the banking 
and brokerage house of Colgate Hoyt & Co. 
Throughout his long and successful career Mr. 
Hoyt has been interested in many of the lead- 
ing trans-continental railroads and has mate- 
rially aided in building up some of the lines. 

He is an ex-president of the Automobile 
Club of America, a member of the Metropoli- 
tan Museum of Art. New York Society 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



■'593 



Founders and Patriots of America, Pilgrim 
Society, New York Zoological Society, North 
Shore Horse Show Association, American 
Social Science Association, New York School 
of Applied Design for Women, Chamber of 
Commerce, Empire State Society, S. A. R., 
Oyster Bay Board of Trade, Ohio Society of 
New York, and the Union League, Metropoli- 
tan, New York Yacht and City Midday clubs 
of New York City, the Union Club of Cleve- 
land, Canadian Camp, Peping Rock Kennel, 
and the Mill Neck Club of Oyster Bay. 

The business man in national affairs is 
always an interesting study, chiefly because 
he is exceptional. No better example can be 

found in this state than 
Cornelius Anion - Pugs- 
ley, who. in addition to 
mastering the banking 
business and becoming 
president of the West- 
chester County Na- 
tional Bank, at Peeks- 
kill, has distinguished 
himself in Congress. 
lie was born at Peeks- 
kill, of an old West- 
chester County family 
that dates back to 
1680, at which time 
John and M a t h e w 
Pugsley c a m e from 
England and settled in 
the Manor of Pelham. When the Revolution 
broke out, the family divided, the Royalist 
wing going to Canada and the liberty-loving 
members remaining here. Mr. Pugsley's 
great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolu- 
tion and his grandfather served as a Captain 
in the War of 1812, making him eligible as a 
Son of the American Revolution and the 
Society of the War of 1812. Mr. Pugsley was 
unanimously elected President-General of the 
National Society of the Sons of the American 
Revolution at Faneuil Hall. Boston, in 1906, 
and he presided over the National Congress 
at Denver in 1907. lie was educated at the 
public schools and privately, served for a time 
as assistant postmaster in his native town and 
then entered the banking business. He was 
sent to the House of Representatives for one 




CORNELIUS A. PUGSLEY 



term in 1900, being the only Democrat elected 
in New York State between \e\v York City 
and Buffalo. 

Mr. Pugsley's early education has been 
supplemented by extensive reading and much 
travel, giving to liiin broad and comprehensive 
knowledge. He lias visited every stale and 
territory, including Alaska. Europe is well 
known to him and he has also travelled in the 
Holy Land and Egypt, Algiers and other parts 
of Africa. While in the Orient, he wrote a 
series of letters to the Evangelist which at- 
tracted attention. He is a member of the 
Chamber of Commerce, of the New England 
Society and many other social organizations. 
He is a lover of the horse, but lately has ac- 
quired a taste for motoring. Mr. Pugsley is 
distinguished as an orator. He has delivered 
several memorable addresses on historic an- 
niversaries in this country, among which may 
be mentioned his Decoration Day speech at 
Trinity Cemetery, N. Y., an address at the 
tomb of the Prison Ship Martyrs, Port Greene 
Park, Brooklyn; another at Detroit, Mich., 
on the occasion of an anniversary celebration 
of the French Alliance; again at a lecture on 
the Holy Land and the East; an after-dinner 
speech at the National Congress of the Sons 
of the American Revolution, at Denver, and 
a speech on 'The American Spirit," de- 
livered at Boston. 

Accountancy has become so necessary to 
every branch of corporate, financial and mer- 
cantile work that it has developed into a pro- 
fession, ranking with the largest and most 
important in this country. Among those 
who have attained high reputation in this line 
of work is Leonard II. Coiiant. who numbers 
among his clients some of the most important 
concerns in New York City and many munici- 
palities throughout the United States. 

Many of the active reform measures recently 
instituted in the Customs Service at the Port 
of New York are due to the initiative of the 
Surveyor, Nelson Herrick Henry. General 
Henry was born on Staten Island in 1855 and 
pursued a thorough education looking to 
the practice of medicine. He was gradu- 
ated from the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons in the class of 1879. He bnilt up an 
extensive practice, was appointed Assistant 



394 



THE BOOK of XEW YORK 




GEN'L NELSON H HENRI 



HU WALTER BENSEL 



CHARLES V Fi IRNES 



Surgeon-General X. G. S. X. Y., and later 
Chief Surgeon of the State. When the Cuban 
War broke out, in 1898, President McKinley 
made him a ( !hief Surgeon of Division. Afterthe 
war lie represented the Fifth Assembly dis- 
trict in the Legislature until 1901, where he 
initiated the movement for the State control 
of tuberculosis patients and introduced the 
original hill for the creation of a State Sani- 
tarium. ( )n the completion of twenty-five 
years of active service in the National Guard, 
on February 1!), li)l(). he was commissioned 
by Governor Hughes Major-General by bre- 
vet. ( ieneial Henry was appointed and served 
live consecutive terms as Adjutant-General of 
the State under as many different Governors, 
a record never equalled. His appointment 
as Surveyor of the Port of Xew York dates 
from June 15, 1910. 

One of the men who lias demonstrated his 
efficiency in the Department of Health is 
Walter Bensel, born in this city, in 1869. He 
is a product of the public schools and of the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, taking 
an M.D. degree at the latter in 1S!)(). lie 
began practice as a physician in 1892, after 
eighteen months* surgical experience in Belle- 
vue Hospital and three months in the Sloane 
Maternity Hospital. He served as assistant 
surgeon at the Vanderbilt Clinic for five years. 
after which he lectured for two years on sur- 
gery at the Polyclinic Medical School and 
Hospital; he was, for a time. Pathologist at 



the Xew York Hospital. He served in numer- 
ous capacities in the Department of Health. 
between lNi)"-2 and 1907. He was appointed 
an Associate in Hygiene and Preventive Medi- 
cine at Columbia University; he also served 
as First Lieutenant in the Medical Reserve 
Corps of the U. S. A. He is a member of 
numerous medical and social organizations. 

Having many interests, both commercial 
and financial in Xew York and being thor- 
oughly conversant with the needs of the city. 
Charles V. Fornes has made an able repre- 
sentative from the 11th District in the 60th, 
61st and 62nd sessions of Congress. 

Mr. Ponies was horn in Erie County. Xew 
York, January 22, 1847, and worked his own 
way through academic and commercial courses 
in Lockport Union Academy, graduating in 
1864. 

Upon completing his education he entered 
the employ of Dahlman & Co., woolen mer- 
chants, and then with the nephew of his em- 
ployer started the firm of Dahlman & Fornes. 
He removed to Xew York City in 1S77. the 
firm becoming C. V. Fornes X" Co. Mr. 
Fornes is a trustee of the Emigrant's Industrial 
Hank, the Xew York Mortgage X Security 
Company, and the Columbian National Life 
Insurance Company. He was president of 
the Board of Alderman of New York City 
from 1901 to 1905 and member of the Com- 
mittee on Columbian Celebration in 1902. 



THE HOOK of NEW VORK 



:;!i: 




He has been treasurer of the Catholic Pro- 
tectory and is now the secretary. lie is a 
member of the Catholic Club and Democratic 
Club of New York City and is an ex-presidenl 
of the Champlain Club of Plattsburg, New 
York. 

The triumph of a resolute nature over ap- 
parently insurmountable circumstances never 
was better exemplified than in the case of 

Charles W. Anderson, 
Collector of Internal 
Revenue for the 2d Dis- 
trict of New York ( 'itv. 
Horn in ( )hio ( ( )xfoi'd), 
of |> o o r parents, he 
w o r k e d h i s vv a y 
through high school 
and commercial college 

o 

while supporting a wid- 
owed mother and two 
sisters. I le afterwards 
studied I a w . serving 
meanwhile as man- 
aging clerk of a law 
firm, but he never ap- 
plied for admission to 
the bar. lie devoted his leisure time to lead- 
ing and mental development in preparation 
for newspaper work. In pursuit of employ- 
ment of that character, he came to New York 
and worked as a reporter, with unqualified 
success. A taste for politics changed the 
current of his life and he took an active part in 
the local Republican campaigns, speaking as 
a "spellbinder" in local and national cam- 
paigns of the Republican party. For several 
years he served as an efficient supervisor of 
racing accounts for the X. Y. Racing Com- 
mission, and was for four years chief clerk of 
the State Treasury Department of X. Y. State. 
In 1906 President Roosevelt appointed him 
( Collector of Internal Revenue and he has since 
discharged the duties of his office to entire 
satisfaction. He is a member of X. Y. Slate 
Republican Committee, a member of the 
Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York 
City, and a member of the National Geographic 
Society. 



i H \l!l.l S \\ VNDERSON 



The frank confession of the little Emperor 
of China, ostensibly from his own hand, on 
October 30, li) I 1 . must appeal to I he American 
people, who. for fifty years, endured indif- 
ference of their Chief Magistrates and 
chicanery or complaisance from mosl of 
the Congressmen, judiciary, governors, state 
legislators, mayors and city officials who mis- 
represented them. Wretched young Hsuan- 
Tung, feeling the Manchu dynasty tottering 
beneath him, cried aloud : " I ha ve not 
employed proper men; those whom I trusted 
have deceived me; public opinion has been 
antagonized; when I urge reform, officials 
embezzle; much of the people's money has 
Ween taken, hut nothing to benefil the people 
has been achieved; all China is grumbling, 
disaster looms ahead; these things are mv 
own tault! 

Presidents Grant, Hayes. Garfield, Arthur, 
Harrison and Mckinley mighl have written 
and signed such an edicl with entire truthful- 
ness; hut they never did. There were few 
champions of popular rights! "Protection" 
to the producing and manufacturing interests 
was thought to he (he gospel of prosperity! 
I had Keen raised on the doctrine and had 
served under Horace Greeley; I began with 
that opinion. But as I came to understand 
the public official, I soon saw that he was not 
a public servant. He was serving individuals, 
not the whole people, rich and poor alike! 
He took life easily, and was constantly ad- 
vancing his pay. 

The awakening came only when President 
Roosevell literally "shook up" this country 
by telling its citizens what indilferent crea- 
tures they were sending to the Senate and 
House. Roosevelt was not the first man to 
speak these truths, hut the presidential voice 
commanded attention! As the miserable lit- 
tle Emperor of China says. "Nothing for the 
people, everything for I he nabobs!" 

When, therefore, earnest, conscientious na- 
tional, state and municipal officials are chosen 
who are strict in attention to duty, they should 
command especial respect, because they are 
unlike the great majority of such trusted citi- 
zens. Personal honesty is not all; indifference 
has been the menace to popular rights in this 
country! I have known many capable na- 



396 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



tional, state and city officials who had a cor- 
rect conception of their duties. But their 
voices were not as potential as they might 
have been made, had greater energy been em- 
ployed. 

The development of the fire-alarm system 
in the city of New York has made it one of the 
most efficient features of that Department. 
To this work John Clifford Rennard con- 
tributed much. He was born in Philadelphia 
in 1866 and took his first degree in the Central 
High School of the Quaker City. He then 
secured an appointment to the United States 
Military Academy, where he was graduated 
in 1890. After serving four years of military 
diitv. he resigned to take a course in electricity 



The State's administration of appropria- 
tions made for the needy is characterized by 
efficiency, compared with examples found in 
many county and private charitable institu- 
tions. About 95 per cent, of the State's 
money reaches its proper destination, 
the small remainder being used for 
expenses. The present secretary of the 
State Board of Charities, Robert William 
Hebberd, attained that position after much 
preliminary experience in charitable work. 
Born in this city. October, 1857, he was 
educated at Grammar School No. 37 and the 
Mynderse Academy, Seneca Falls. He began 
his active career in 1881 with the New York 
Association for Improving the Condition of the 
Poor, his special charge being the needy in 




.1 CLIFFORD RENNARD 



ROBERT W. HEBBERD 



CEORGE McANENY 



at Columbia University and was graduated 
as electrical engineer. 



lie started his husiness 
career as an assistant in the New York Tele- 
phone Company, and, in 1900, had risen to 
Assistant Engineer of that great organization. 
At the end of seven years he resigned that 
post to begin practice as a consulting electrical 
engineer. In August, 1910, he received his 
appointment as electrical engineer of the New 
York Fire Department for the special purpose 
of designing and installing a new alarm- 
telegraph system. While with the telephone 
company. Mr. Rennard converted the entire 
switchboard equipment from magneto to com- 
mon battery type, involving the installation 
of new central offices capable of handling 
upward of 100, 000 telephone lines. 



the Twelfth and Nineteenth Wards. Early 
he developed strong humanitarian instincts 
and not only found his work interesting but 
gratifying. Subsequently, Mr. Hebberd be- 
came superintendent of the Charity Organi- 
zation Society of this city, also serving for a 
brief period as secretary of the State Board, 
and in 1906 he was appointed Commissioner 
of Public Charities of the City of New York. 
Since April, 1910, he has been acting in his 
present capacity. While Commissioner he 
caused the preparation of plans — a thing never 
undertaken before — covering a systematic de- 
velopment of building and other work for the 
next half century. He is a member of the 
City Club and a 32d degree Mason. He is an 
Independent with Democratic inclinations 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



397 




WILLIAM F SCHNEIDER 



Long years of business experience and an 
expert knowledge of accountancy have en- 
abled William F. Schneider l<> fill the office of 

County Clerk \v i f h 
in o r e than ordinary 
success. 

He was born in New 
^ oik ( ity, November 
24, 1864, educated af 
the public schools and 
graduated in L879, en- 
tering the employment 
of r n.e II. B. Claflin 
Company two y e a r s 
later. He remained 
with flic firm for twen- 
ty-one years, the last 
ten being Assistant 
( hief Accountant, anil 
retired to join with M . 
M. Smith in the formation of the firm of M. M. 
Smith & Co.. manufacturers of ladies', misses* 
and children's dresses, at No. 1154 and 136 
West Twenty-fifth Street. Mr. Schneider was 
a member of the Board of Alderman for four 
years, and during his term acted as Chairman 
of Committee on Bridges and Tunnels, intro- 
ducing the resolution for the erection of the 
Queensboro and Manhattan bridges. He is 
a member of the Harlem Board of Commerce, 
the National Democratic (lul) and the Royal 
Arcanum. 

A brilliant and still a young man who has 
risen to responsible position is John P. Cohal- 
an. Timothy Cohalan and Ellen O'Leary, 

both born in Ireland, 
are the parents of the 
present Surrogate, who 
was born in Brooklyn 
on the most auspi- 
cious date of March 
17, 1873. After at- 
tending the public 
schools at Middle- 
town. N. Y.. John 
Cohalan studied at 
Manhattan College, 
where he attained the 
degree of A.B. in 1893, 
and was admitted l<> 

JOHN I' COHALAN I he bar in IS!).'). 




After practicing law successfully for several 
years he ran for Assembly and was elected 
in 1906. He apparently "made good" as a 
legislator, for in the following year he was 
elected to the Senate. The tenure of his 
presenl posl of Surrogate of New York 
County dales from January I. '!><>!). Sur- 
rogate Cohalan belongs to the Manhattan, 
Catholic, Oakland Golf Chilis and several 
others. 

With a mind stored by years of newspaper 
experience and the study of law. George 
McAneny is especially well-equipped for the 
presidency of the Borough of Manhattan. 

He was born in Greenville, N. .1.. December 
24, lSlil). and is a graduate of the Jersey City 
Ili^'h School. After leaving school he served 
as reporter and correspondent for various 
New York newspapers and weeklies and was 
secretary of the Civil Service Reform League, 
having for ten years much to do with the 
promotion and enforcement of Federal and 
State Civil Service Laws and drafting the 
City Civil Service rules now in force. He was 
elected President of the Borough of Man- 
hattan on the Fusion ticket in 1909. He is 
vice-president of the National Municipal 
League, president of the Friendly Aid Society, 
vice-president of the Armstrong Association, 
having to do with the Hampton and Tuskegee 
Institutes, and trustee of Jeanes Fund for 
Rudimentary Negro Education. His clubs 
are the Century. City, Manhattan and Lake 
George Country. 

Lovers of travel have reasonable cause to 
envy my Lotos Club friend. William Herbert 
Libby, who. during thirty years, visited all 
parts of tin' world as arbitrator and diplomatic 
agent of the Standard Oil Company. He is 
a New Englander of English descent, extend- 
ing back to 1620 at Massachusetts Bay. 
Starting with a common school education. 
Mr. Libby at the age of twenty (1865) en- 
tered trade in the petroleum business in this 
city. It was a new article of merchandise 
at that time, bul young Libby became so dis- 
tinguished as an expert that, in 1878, he was 
asked to enter the employment of the Standard 
Oil Company. He was at once sent on the 
road to extend that corporation's business 
in Oriental countries. For twenty years 



398 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Mr. Libby was the foreign representative of 
the great company; he pushed its trade into 
every corner of the world: lie arbitrated all 
disputes and became a sincere believer in 
conciliation rather than aggression. During 
that time, he travelled more than .'500. 000 
miles making several trips 'round the world 

and was received at many European and 
Oriental courts. Recently, at the age of <>.». 
Mr. Libby accepted a post of advisory char- 
acter and has settled down in this city. lie 
is ajmember of many social organizations. 

.Inst across the Canadian line, opposite 
Franklin County. X. Y.. in the village of 
Dundee. A. Paul Gardiner, now a successful 
manufacturer in this city, was horn in 
1865. lie is of Scotch descent, hut his fore- 




A. PAUL GARDINER 

hears lived more than a century in Canada. 
having originally purchased their lands from 
the Indians. Young Paul secured his edu- 
cation at the district high schools and Franklin 
Institute, after which he went to Montreal 
and became a clerk in a dry goods house. 
Remaining there a short time he came to New 
^4 ork and engaged himself to a large cotton 
manufacturing concern, his duties taking him 
to every state in the Union. Mr. Gardiner was 



first to found a magazine on a cooperative 
plan of publication among retail merchants, 
when Modes and Fabrics came into existence, 
attaining an enormous circulation. Its publi- 
cation continued for sixteen years and led to 
the promotion of proprietary medicines, in 
which Mr. Gardiner made a fortune. He was 
among the earliest to realize the prospective 
growth of the Bronx, and actively undertook 
the development of land therein. He has a 
fine estate at Croton-on-IIudson, called "Hes- 
sian Hill Farm." Mr. Gardiner has written 
several books. The 1 louse of Cariboo ami 
Other Tales of Arcadia. The Fifth A renin 
Social Trust and Paul's Adventures to 
Date. 

The growth of Italian trade with this country 
has been largely due to the enterprise shown 
by a number of Italian 
merchants who have 
established houses in 
this city and introduced 
Italian products to the 
American m a r ket. 
Among these mer- 
chants none has dis- 
played more energy 
than Antonio Zucca, 
born in Trieste while 
it belonged to Italy. 
It is now in possession 
of Austria . He was 
educated at the com- 
mercial schools of his 
native city, and after 
considerable stay in 
Northern Italv came to 

the United States about 1869 and established 
the house of Zucca <.\: Co. lie became an 
American citizen and organized the Italian 
Political Association: was School Trustee for 
a number of terms; was elected Coroner in 
the Borough of Manhattan: then President of 
the Board of Assessors, X. Y. He is a mem- 
ber of Tammany Hall, on its executive com- 
mittee; he has served as President of the Ital- 
ian Chamber of Commerce: President of the 
International Peace Society (Italian branch): 
is a director of the Italian Savings Bank and 
Italian Benevolent Association. He has been 
decorated three times hv the King of Italv. 




ANTONK > ZUCCA 



THE BOOK of NEW VORK 



399 



Tammany Hall has had sonic thoroughly 
upright chiefs who have done much to remove 
popular discredit attached to it by the name 
of Tweed. John Kelly was an unscrupu- 
lous politician in every respect except thai 
lie would not countenance "graft" or politi- 
cal blackmail. Richard Croker, who suc- 
ceeded him as the head of the local Dem- 
ocratic machine, never was a party to the 
small schemes of his department heads, lie 
was personally honest, hut he availed himself 
of inside knowledge of proposed local enact- 
ments by the Hoard of Aldermen to secure 
options in speculative properties and thus be- 
came a very rich man. Other people, in rail- 
road and insurance hoards, have done the 
same thing without incurring public censure. 
Why should a politician he judged by a higher 
standard than the head of a greal banking 
house who is often, likewise, chief man in 
his church? When Mr. Croker decided to 
remove to Ireland in 1894, Tammany was 
managed for a time by a triumvirate, consist- 
ing of Mayor Gilroy, Police Commissioner 
J. J. Martin and County Clerk II. I). Purroy, 
until about July, 1895, when John ('. Sheehan 
was unanimously elected leader, a distinction 
he held until January. 1N!)N. Mr. Croker 
returned at that time and got control, remain- 
ing here until the fall of 1901, when he secured 
the appointment of Lewis Nixon in his place 
and went hack to Ireland. Mr. Nixon only 
lasted from November of that year to May of 
1902. lie lacked experience, was all things 
to all men and therefore popular; hut he gave 
way to a Committee of Three, consisting of 
Louis Haffen, I). F. McMahon and ('has. F. 
Murphy. 

Of all these men. the most interesting is 
John C. Sheehan. whom I have known and 
greatly respected for many years. He was a 
successful leader in the dominant party ot 
this city and had scored equally well as a 
lawyer and a private contractor. Whatever 
money he accumulated has been earned in 
these two activities: not one dollar has been 
made in politics. He practiced law for sonic 
years before he became prominent in Tam- 
many Hall politics, was recognized as an able 
practitioner and advanced to the top of his 
profession by natural progress. Every loot 



of the way was hotly contested by able law vets 
of that period and he did not gain a step with- 
outffighting for il. I came to know Mr. 




.1' >ll\ C Mill II \\ 

Sheehan when he was a member of the Police 
Hoard, prior to Richard Croker's first abdi- 
cation. He was then a Sachem in the Taniniam 
Society, an especially active coadjutor of his 
chief at election times and performed his 
duties on a higher plane than most of the men 
who surrounded him. His frank, courteous 
hut never obsequious manner made him gen- 
erally popular. Possessed of a commanding 
presence, his large frame and good height dis- 
tinguished him in a crowd. He became a 
member of the Police Commission, 1891, and 
served three years. When Mr. Croker with- 
drew from the limelight Mr. Sheehan became 
his successor. The advancement had been 
earned and occasioned no surprise. I nlikc 
some men who have taken over this laborious 
task. Mr. Sheehan did no| proceed to convert 
his position into a " get-rich-quick "proposition. 
Never was there a year of such economy al the 
Hall! 

The first Mayor of the consolidated city 
was to l>c elected in November, 1S«)7. Seth 



KIO 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Low, who had previously been Mayor of 
Brooklyn and Gen. B. P. Tracy. Senator 
Piatt's special candidate, were already in the 
field when Mr. Sheehan got his convention 
together at Grand Central Palace and named 
an exceptionally good city ticket with Robert 
A. Van Wyck for Mayor and Bird S. Coler 
for City Comptroller. Mr. Van Wyck had 
served as City Judge for eight years, was the 
founder and afterwards president of the Hol- 
land Society and possessed an excellent record; 
Mr. Coler had been raised in the banking- 
house of his father, was thoroughly competent 
for the post and was taking his first step into 
political life. lie was a popular young man 
well known in financial circles and the hap- 
piest choice made by Mr. Sheehan on the 
ticket. An exciting campaign followed. Mr. 
Low polled a tremendous vote, especially in 
Brooklyn. Judge Van Wyck was elected, 
despite public clamor against Tammany. The 
celebration of the creation of Greater New 
York, on the night of December 31, 1897, 
was a memorable affair. Although the weath- 
er was bad. the populace of this city, suddenly 
raised from a million and a half to nearly 
four millions of people and to second place 
among the cities of the world, paraded the 
streets amid general rejoicing. Inauguration 
of the new Mayor on the following morning 
stalled Greater New York upon its career! 
The Van Wyck administration, although at- 
tended with the Ice Trust scandal, must have 
a distinctive place in local history, because 
thereunder the present Subway system was 
inaugurated. Mayor Van Wyck lifted the 
first spadeful of earth, in front of City Hall, 
at a spot marked by a bronze tablet. When 
the new administration was successfully 
launched, Richard Croker returned from 
abroad and his interference with Mr. Sheehan 
caused the prompt retirement of the latter 
from leadership. Essentially a man of com- 
mercial training and, unlike later politicians 
that might be named, unwilling to enter as 
competitor for several la rye contracts that 
were in the open market, Mr. Sheehan retired 
to private life. He secured, as lowest bidder, 
the important contract for putting under- 
ground the Long Island railroad entering 
Brooklyn on Atlantic Avenue — the first sec- 



tion of the new Subway system of Greater 
New York! 

Mr. Sheehan was born at Buffalo, X. Y., 
August, 1S4S; was educated at St. Joseph's 
College and at a commercial institution of 
that city. He was admitted to the bar and 
practiced law many years; but his chief finan- 
cial success has come through large contracts 
that have attained for him national promi- 
nence. Although out of active politics. Mr. 
Sheehan did not forget Mr. Croker's treat- 
ment and waited to get even. His opportu- 
nity came in the fall preceding the close of the 
Van Wyck administration, when he organized 
a fusion movement that overthrew Croker 
by defeating the Tammany Hall ticket. It 
will be remembered that Seth Low was the 
candidate for Mayor, but the rest of the 
ticket was conceded to Mr. Sheehan, namely. 
Comptroller, E. M. Grout; President of the 
Board of Aldermen, C. V. Fornes; President 
of the Borough of Manhattan, Jacob A. 
Cantor; Sheriff. W. J. O'Brien; Register. J. 
.1. II. Konner, and Coroner. Nicholas J. 
Brown. It was a memorable victory for Mr. 
Sheehan "a whole revenge in one act." as 
Dumas would have said. He then quit 
politics forever. 

Familiarity with Hellenic affairs has given 
Frank W. Jackson a decided advantage as an 
importer of Grecian products. He is a fluent 

Greek scholar and 
served as American 
Consul at Greece for 
two years, at the same 
time studying the 
customs of the people 
and making historical 
and archaeological re- 
searches. Upon his 
return to America he 
was for some time 
general agent of the 
Hellenic Transatlantic 
Steamship Company of 
Athens and afterwards 
became an importer of 
frank w. jackson Greek products. Mr. 

Jackson is a member 
of the staff of lecturers of the New York Board 
of Education; a member of the Archaeological 




THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



401 



Society of Athens. Greece; of the Circolo 
Nazionale Ltaliano, Phi (lamina Delta frater- 
nity, Phi (lamina Delta Club and the Traffic 
Club of New York City. Mr. Jackson is a 

graduate of Bneknell University and was for 
several years head master in Greek at the 
Mount Pleasant (Pa.) Preparatory School. 




\\ 1 1 .1.1 A M i; BEMIS 

VICE-PRESIDENT STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF NEW YORK 

In a long and successful career in the 
held of finance no other event is so important 
as the part Benjamin B. Bryan played in the 
establishment of the brokers' private wire 
from New York to the Pacific Coast. He 
recognized the necessity of direct communica- 
tion between the important financial cities 
and the immense producing fields of the West 
and Northwest, and was the pioneer in bring- 
ing 20,000 miles of territory in direct touch 
with the metropolis and the other investment 
centers. Mr. Bryan is a member of the firm 
of Logan & Bryan and is the nephew of 
Benjamin Butters, a well-known hanker and 
broker who died at the Great Northern Hotel, 
Chicago, in 1896. lie is a director of the 
Chicago Board of Trade and as one of a 
committee of four, appeared before Congress 
in 1908 in the defense of legitimate exchanges. 



( )f all men known to me, I cannot recall one 
that has such a sincere affection for his native 
State or greater devotion to the prosperity of 

the New South than Thomas Fortune Ryan, 
hanker, railway magnate and prospective 
I nited Stales Senator from Virginia. There 
isn't a story in the "Arabian Nights" quite 
equal to the life history of this man. I never 
have known him very well, and I am told he is 
a Sphinx to his closest friends. I met him 
lor the first time at the ( hicago ( (invention of 
1896, introduced by William C. Whitney. 
Born a poor hoy al Lovingston, Nelson ( Onnly, 
Virginia, in 1851, and early orphaned, lie went 
to Baltimore at 17, as clerk in a mercantile 
house, whence he came lo flic metropolis two 
years later and began his marvelous career. 
He started as a clerk in a hank, I cannot 
learn the institution that would he glad to 
claim him as its pupil in finance. He saved 
enough money to buy a scat in the Stock Ex- 
change in lS7t i then worth aliout $5,000), 
and from that hour to this his success has been 
like a romance. Money making became a 
fine art with him. Ilis arrival in Wall Street 
was after my year of activity there. To-day, 
in addition to a personal fortune of $50,000,- 
000, he probably controls and dominates more 
than a billion and a half of money, invested in 
enterprises chiefly because he is the directing 
mind therein! There is Revolutionary stock 
on both sides of his family, and a maternal 
grandfather. Thomas Fortune, was a captain 
in the second war with ( ireat Britain, although 
I doubt if the New Yorker ever mentions these 
facts. These forebears, however, account for 
unflinching patriotism, which to my mind is 
only exceeded as human traits by love of God 
and humanity. In these latter respects, Mr. 
Ryan is eminent. 

For many years Mr. Ryan's power was felt 
in Wall Street, but the source thereof was un- 
recognized. This man, whom William ( . Whit- 
ney once described as "(he most suave, adroit 
and noiseless personality American finance 
ever had known,"' suddenly emerged from self- 
created obscurity in 1SSS. when II. B. Ilollins, 
Isaac L. Rice and E. B. Alexander undertook 
the capture of the Richmond Terminal Bail- 
road. Alexander was president of the ( ieorgia 
Central. A long litigation followed ;but, about 



HI-.' 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




THOMAS I H\ \\ 



1S!)1 . during money stringency, Innian. Thom- 
as and Bryce, who controlled the Richmond 
Terminal could not borrow and had to sue for 
peace. Then Mr. Ryan appeared as director 
in a reorganized board and he was disclosed 
as the great unknown*. 

That contest was a fine preparation for a 
subsequent struggle resulting in the capture 
of the Seaboard Air Line. There had been 
trouble in the directory of that corporation 
for several years. While the stock was quoted 
at $45 a share on the Exchange, Mr. Ryan 
suddenly announced that he had bought con- 
trol of the road for $125 per share, from R. C. 
Hoffman, president of the company. But the 

* I have since used ihis historic contest in my financial novel "< >n 
:i Margin," lc> depict the influence of ;i mighty hidden financial 
power 



Hoffman party couldn't or wouldn't deliver 
the stock and Mr. Ryan spoke his mind to the 
public. A new syndicate headed by .1. S. 
Williams and .1. W. Middendorf offered $200 
per share, planning to unite the Seaboard with 
the Baltimore & Ohio. An injunction was 
refused to Mr. Ryan and. apparently he was 
defeated. lie waited. When the panic of 
1 !>(>."> came, the Williams group got into dif- 
ficulties and Mr. Ryan secured the Seaboard 
Air Line at his own figures. 

Mr. Ryan's association with the late Wil- 
liam C. Whitney in street railway enterprises 
were highly profitable, but details are too com- 
plicated to treat in a sketch of this length. 
The consolidation of the tobacco interests 
of the world is a different matter. It is proba- 
ble that this achievement, conducted on his 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



103 



own initiative, is the one coup that has brought 
most money to Thomas F. Ryan. Briefly, 

it may be said that during the '90s Mr. Ryan 
had organized the Union Tobacco Company, 
which acquired the Blackwell Bull-Durham 
and the Liggett <!v Myers Companies— the 

latter a St. Louis concern. These proved im- 
portant factors in the organization of the 
American Tobacco Company, the purchase of 
the Continental and effective control of 80 
per cent, of the cigar and tobacco trade of the 
United States. England was then invaded 
and a legal contest for possession of "Ogden's 
Limited'" followed. A settlement resulted in 
the surrender to the American Tobacco Com- 
pany of the United Slates territory and all 
colonies, Canada and Cuba, as well as a two- 
thirds interest in the British-American com- 
pany formed to supply the rest of the world! 

Prior to 1!)03, the National City Rank was 
the only one in this country with a capital 
of $25,000,000, but Mr. Ryan decided to rival 
it by consolidating with the National Rank 
of Commerce, which he and friends controlled 
the Hide and Leather and the Western Na- 
tional banks. The choice of "National Rank 
of Commerce." as a name, was due to the fact 
that this institution possesses special banking 
privileges granted to it by Congress during the 
Civil War to induce it to come into the na- 
tional banking system. The creation of the 
old Morton Trust Company, now the Guar- 
antee Trust Company, which has deposits of 
$178,000,000 to-day, was an afternoon's work. 
SO to speak. The Morton was then combined 
with the State Trust and to-day has about 
$100,000,000 deposits. It seems too easy a 
proposition to deserve mention. 

Mr. Ryan's most memorable ct>it/>. because 
it attracted the attention of the civilized world, 
was his purchase of the controlling Hyde in- 
terests in the Equitable Assurance Society. 
The Armstrong Committee had riddled that 
great corporation; the report of the Frick 
Committee of Directors, laying most of the 
blame upon James H. Hyde, — who was only 
one director — had not satisfied the hundreds 
of thousands of policyholders. Something had 
to be done to restore confidence, or a splendid 
institution, having a benevolent purpose as its 
real objective, would go to pieces. When the 



suspense was the most tense, when thousands 
of policyholders refused to pay premiums, Mr. 
Ryan announced the purchase by him of the 
Hyde shares, for the benefit of the policy- 
holders! lie paid $2,500,000. To show -a\>^>- 
lute good faith, Mr. Ryan at once placed lhi> 
stock in trust with three trustees; Grover 
Cleveland, Justice Morgan .1. O'Brien and 
George Westinghouse. Reorganization of the 
Equitable followed. Paul Morton, former 
Secretary of the Navy under Roosevelt, was 
made President, and a $400,000,000 institution 
was saved from disaster. In 1906, Mr. Ryan 
retired from thirty-odd banks and corpora- 
tions with which he was connected. He still 
retains several directorships. 

Tall, keen-visaged, but polite to the utmost 
degree, Mr. Ryan is a personality to whom 
one becomes greatly attached after acquaint- 
ance has ripened into friendship. In his 
office, his steel-gray eyes put one upon his 
guard; when lunching at the Lawyers' Club or 
elsewhere, he is as genial as he i> gentle. 
Simple in his personal habits, he smokes little, 
drinks less and cares nothing about what is 
described as "society." Away from YA .-ill 
Street, his greatest interests lie in his beloved 
Virginia, where many millions of his money 
have been devoted to development of natural 
resources. At Oak Ridge, near the place of 
his birth, is his home although he has a 
country home ' Montebello," in Rockland 
County. N. Y.. and a city house on Fifth 
Avenue. 

A descendant of the old Knickerbocker fam- 
ily of Op Dyck, which settled in New York 
in l(i-M). George II. Opdyke was horn here in 
1S(!?. receiving his education at the Weslcvan 
University, Middletown, (dun., from which 
he graduated Ph.B. in 1S!)(I and with prizes 
in economics and history. He later look 
courses in Columbia University with degree 
of MA. and in University of New York, from 
which he obtained the Ph.D. degree and com- 
pleted with a law course at Columbia Univer- 
sity, but did no| graduate, leaving on account 
of a flattering business opening in Georgia. 
He was engaged in mining and railroading in 
the South from 1892 to 1901 and was admitted 
to the bar of Georgia but never practiced. 
From 1901 to l!>0t he was engaged in mining 



404 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



and railroading in California and Oregon. 
Returninr 



to 



New York City he became in- 



terested in several business propositions as 
financial backer and has since confined his 
activities to this city. 




MELVILLE E. STONE 

No name is better known in the newspaper 
field throughout the world than Melville E. 
Stone at the head of the Associated Press. 
The above photograph is presented here al- 
though mention is often made of this wonder- 
ful news-gatherer in the previous chapters. 
Every newspaper man is his friend. 

In the preceding pages much has been said 
regarding the New York Tribune in the olden 
days and its great editor and founder. Horace 
Greeley. The massive foundation laid then 
remains unshaken and the Tribune of to-day 
continues to represent the progressive spirit 
of the age. It was the first paper to use a 
rotary press, the first to use stereotyping, the 
first to use linotype machines. Its avenues 



of information reach around the earth. It 
was one of the first members of the Associated 
Press and its resources for news at the present 
time are boundless; its editorials, highly intelli- 
gent, its local news columns unsurpassed and 
its illustrating and art departments excellent. 

A most important event in the Tribune's 
history occurred on the 21st day of October, 
1909, when under its present management, 
the price of the paper was reduced from three 
cents to one cent a copy. This was brought 
about after due consideration, and. in recogni- 
tion of public demand and prevailing condi- 
tions. At the same time, the six columns to 
its page were increased to seven columns, 
and the daily and Sunday issues were enlarged 
to such proportions that the old subscribers 
of the paper could find no room for criticism, 
but on the other hand thousands upon thou- 
sands of letters of approval were sent in to the 
paper expressing the utmost satisfaction at 
the change. This movement was radical and 
successful. The circulation jumped many 
thousands in a very few days. Increase fol- 
lowed increase from dealers, not only through- 
out the city and immediate suburbs, but from 
all parts of the country. Announcement of the 
Tribune's reduction in price was the news- 
paper "event" of the year of 1!)()i). 

The New York Tribune of to-day is not 
only a New York paper, but a national me- 
dium that can be found in remote districts 
where the competition of the city does not 
reach and where it is accepted as a member 
of the family that the passing years fail to 
weaken. 

Another strong feature of the Tribune is its 
high standing in Europe. Few American 
papers have the following on the other side 
that the Tribune has enjoyed for more than 
half a century and it is so highly regarded as 
an American medium that it carries in its 
regular paid advertising columns the business 
cards of not only the leading hotels and pleas- 
ure resorts of Europe, but advertisements of 
conservative houses and London shops. 

Mr. Whitelaw Reid is still identified with the 
paper as its principal owner. His son, Ogden 
Mills Reid, has recently been elected to the 
presidency. The editor is Mr. Hart Lyman. 
Conde Hamlin is the business manager. 



THE HOOK nf NEW YORK 



K).1 



CHAPTER XXX 



SELLING REAL ESTATE IS A FINE AIM' 




II the improvement of the 
city came the developmenl of its 
suburbs. There have Keen 
"conveyancers" and real estate 
agents since the beginning 1 of 
time, but only within the last 
twenty-five years has the selling 
of city and suburban property been reduced 
to an art. Many of the finest city improve- 
ments have owed their inception to the brilliant 
and suggestive minds of the men of this new 
profession. When in London, in 1875, I 
made a careful study of the Birkbeck System 
of developing plots of land in the environs of 
the British metropolis; but when 1 returned to 
this city I could not interest any one of a 
dozen real estate men whom 1 visited. Not 
until the early nineties did the improvement 
of outlying regions begin in earnest. The 
movement followed closely upon the rearing 
of the first skyscrapers! When the Tribune 
building had risen to eleven stories, timid 
New Yorkers were afraid to go to see the 
editor. That interesting personage probably 
escaped many a disagreeable visitor, intent 
upon securing "a retraction" or a gratuitous 
"puff" because he dwelt so far aloft. Then 
came the American Tract Society's structure 
with its twenty-three floors: next the new 
Potter building. 

A marvelous feat in construction was accom- 
plished in the Times building, on the site of 
the old brick church, because the new structure 
was put up around the old one without the 
loss of a single publication day! 

Meanwhile, the splendid edifice of the 
World had risen on the site of French's Hotel 
—its cornerstone laid in October, 1889. All 
these structures looked very tall: but when 
the ancient International Hotel familiar to 
every newspaper man on Park Bow because 
it afforded domicile to 'Tommy Lynch's 
boosing-ken" came down and the Park Bow 



or "Syndicate" building rose in its place to 
the height of thirty-three floors, most New 
Yorkers assumed that the limit of structural 
steel buildings had been reached. Since that 
time there have Keen few loftier structures. 
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's 
tower, the Singer, City Investment. Whitehall 
and, latest, Woolworth buildings advanced 
the sky-line higher and higher. The last 
mentioned, containing fifty floors, located al 
the corner of Park Place and Broadway, is 
one of the wonders of the new century! 

The outlook for Manhattan realty is as 
promising to-day as ever if has been. As 
many fortunes are to be made in the future 
as in the past. Fundamental conditions are 
sound and are becoming Wetter every month. 
Sales of realty average $500,000,000 annually 

not taking into account structures upon I In- 
land. Growth of population and business 
account for this and not a sign appears to 
warrant any decrease either in the one or the 
other. 

More than $100,000,000 was invested in 
new structures in Manhattan during 1911, 
an advance of $4,000,000 over the preceding 
year, when the total was $96,703,029. The 
year 1911, therefore, was the second best 
building year in the history of the borough, 
the banner year being 190!). when the high 
total of $127,973,902 was reached. The only 
other borough that showed a substantial ad- 
vance was Queens, where all previous records 
were exceeded, the total for the first eleven 
months up to December 1 last being $21,157,- 
264, as against $14,507,000 for the year L910. 
Richmond showed a slight gain, but Bronx 
and Brooklyn fell below the marks of 1910, 
owing to delay in rapid transit facilities. 

In Manhattan the building operations were 
chiefly apartment houses and lofts. These 
two types, one representative of the residential 
life of the citv and the other of its business 



km; 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



needs and growth, dominate all other 
forms of structural work. They have 
been centred chiefly in two parts of the 
city, the apartments on the west side. 
between Seventy-second and 110th 
Streets, and the lofts in the midtown 
commercial /one. between Fourteenth 
and Forty-second Streets, with Fourth 
and Madison Avenues as the eastern 
boundary and Seventh Avenue on the 
west. East of Fourth Avenue, in the 
middle east side, were three buildings 
costing $440. (MM); west of Seventh Ave- 
nue in the Pennsylvania station /.one. 
were two costing $800,000; Greenwich 




$■(, > c ' tec it 

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aggregating nearly $9. 000. 00(1. 

While realty prices advanced 
in the Fourth. Madison and Fifth 
Avenue /one. due to continued 
demand for big business space, the 
good fortune of this part of the 
city has been made at the expense 
of the old dry goods centre be- 
low Fourteenth street. 

A whole chapter might be 
written about Madison Squar?, 
once the fashionable home of 
"Flora McFlimsey," but now at 
the end of its social career. The 
old square, which in its days held 




' 'opyright by Litlig & > ■ 



THE l.UI.ST l\ NEW YORK SKY-SCRAPERS 
Illustrating the tremendous earning power ol a few feet of Manhattan real estati 



village section, which furnished a number of 
new structures the preceding year, produced 
only three big structures last year costing 
$875,000; north of Forty-second Street there 
were four costing $1,570,000, while below 
Fourteenth Street, in the Broadway section, 
plans for seven large structures were filed. 



some of the finest dwellings in this city, is 
now claimed by modern office buildings. 
Only a few remain of the many stately, 
handsome residences that surrounded the 
little patch of greensward fifteen year.-- ago. 
Madison Square Garden, now doomed, is 
more than L 2\ years old. Barnum's Hippo- 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



401 



drome, as the old New York Central station 
covering the block bounded by Madison and 
Fourth Avenues and Twenty-sixth and Twen- 
ty-seventh Streets was called, was boughl in 
the fall of 1887 by the Madison Square Garden 
Company for $400,000. The next year build- 
ing operations were started and in June, 1890, 
the big amphitheatre was formally opened. 

The Garden was really the first big i lern 

building to be erected on the square. It is 
one of the best-known structures in the world, 
and was erected from designs by Stanford 
White. The Flatiron building was the next 
to follow. This building, because of its shape 
and height, is known throughout the world. 
I nlike the Metropolitan Life building, it was 
built as a speculation, and in this respect it is 
the pioneer of the many office buildings now 
flanking the park. The building of a New 
\ ork skyscraper is one of the greatest triumphs 
of organization that the world ever has known. 
In no other country has it been possible except 
under the direct superintendency of American 
experts. 

Wall Street of to-day is not the one 1 knew 
in 1870. Only Trinity Church ami the Greek 
temple called the Sub-Treasury remain. The 
United States Assay office was last to go. It 
hail stood since IH^.'J. When I Hist knew it. 
Henry Clews had a brokerage office in the 
front of the building; well do 1 remember 
sitting with him the day of Jay < looke's failure, 
when he. too. had been driven to the wall. 
Never shall I forget his words, when I called 
to express my regrets and a hope that matters 
were not so bad as he feared: "Chambers, 
I'm not worth five cents!*' he said. In its 
earliest days, the Assay office was the Sub- 
Treasury, the present edifice dedicated to 
that use being the Custom House. Later. 
it was a branch of the United States Bank. 
Not a building on Wall Street west of Pearl 
Street, except the Seaman's Savings Hank 
and the Hank of New York, is as it was in 
1870. The old Custom House has become a 
banking house: the street is crowded with 
sk\ scrapers! 

New York City grows twice as rapidly as 
the country at large. Taking the official 
figures of the five Boroughs, as given in 1!)1(). 
at 1,766,883 population ami adding to per 



cent., or 1,906,752, we have 6,673,636 people 

as the city's census in 1920. 

The most noticeable real estate develop- 
ment has been on the upper West Side. 
Twenty-five years ago, the section north of 
Fifty-ninth Street ami Eighth Avenue was 
generally a mass of rocks and rookeries. 
Isolated houses only served to render the 
region more desolate. I {locks between Colum- 
bus and Eighth Avenue-, were considerably 
developed. 'The Dakota, on Central Park 
West, was the first mammoth structure of the 
new real estate era. The Farlevs buill the 
Nevada in L890. The neighborhood was 
alive will: goats and all neighboring houses 
were shanties. A curious and interesting fact 
is that churches were flic pioneers in thai 
section. The Colonial Club and the Hotel 
St. Andrews were two inspiring objects and 
their erection almost doubled the prices of 
property on Sherman Square. Riverside 
Drive, which in 1NN<! hail only fifteen buildings 
between Seventy-second Street and Willi 
Street some of them old frame affairs sud- 
denly felt the throb of new life on the Wes1 
Side. The late Cyrus (lark was pioneer: 
as he told me himself, he became so land poor 
that in his fine house al Ninety-firsl Street 
he could keep only one servant! About 1SSS 
came the era of large aparlnienl houses on 
the Riverside and elsewhere throughout that 
section. Rents in sonic of them were as high 
as $12,000 a suite! Early in this volume I 
have described Elm Park as a picnic ground. 
The day of single dwellings, except for the 
wealthy, is passing; huge apartments are 
lining Broadway as far as ancient Blooming- 
dale. 

The possibilities of asymmetrical and beauti- 
ful development of Long Island had been 
recognized by many local real estate dealers 
before Daniel II. Burnham, a famed Western 
landscape architect, visited the region al the 
close of 1911. A broad boulevard from the 
heart of Brooklyn to Montauk Point, and a 
similar one from Queensboro Bridge to Green- 
porl -with excellent cross-roads joining these 
two thoroughfares, so as to open up all 
the central features of flu's "terminal morain" 

should lie put under commission al once. 



408 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



These improvements will come in the near 
future. Queens wants a boulevard from Jack- 
son Avenue, through Corona. Flushing, Bay- 
side and Little Neck; connections between 
Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway and Queens 
Boulevard, an extension of Hillside Avenue 
to Floral Park, a development of the Rocka- 
way Turnpike from Ridgewood Avenue 
through South Jamaica to the famous Merrick 
road, and a Van Dam Street connection be- 
tween Queensboro Bridge and the Williams- 
burg Bridge. Nassau County desires the im- 
provement of the Jericho Turnpike and the 
Merrick road. Suffolk County is ready to do 
her share in the beautification of Long Island. 

Before long, Fort Pond Bav will become 
the terminal point for trans-Atlantic lines. A 
National Park is planned at Montauk Point, 
taking in the site of the camp occupied by the 
troops on their return from Cuba. Another 
.splendid park is planned for the Lake Ron- 
konkoma region, in the middle of the island. 
There is nothing chimerical about the pro- 
ject. Long Island is already one of the most 
beautiful and attractive places in the entire 
country. 

Staten Island comprises all of Richmond 
Borough and Richmond County. It has an 
area of .)(>,(i(l() acres and a population fast 
approaching the 100,000 mark. With the 
highest ground along the Atlantic seaboard, 
with its chain of beautiful hills, its picturesque 
valleys and plains and its splendid views of 
the ocean, the lower and upper bay. the Kill 
von Kull, Newark Bay. the Orange Moun- 
tains, and last but not least with the constant 
panorama of ships great and small which pass 
through the famous Narrows commanded by 
the Federal fortifications, its advantages are 
unparalleled anywhere. 

Staten Island was given its name by 
Henry Hudson, who, in 1608, sailed through 
the Narrows and anchored in the bay. He 
it was who called it "Staaten Eylandt," in 
honor of the States of Holland, and it was here 
that his crew first landed near what is now 
St. George. 

With the Battery, no place on Manhattan 
Island is to be compared; it really was the 
cradle of the metropolis of the present! There 



Peter Minuit. a Prussian, acting for the Dutch 
West India Company, made the greatest real- 
estate deal known to American history. It 
casts into the shade all the brilliant records 
of the men of to-day. He bought the entire 
island from the Indians for $24! It was a 
fair bargain, as values ran in 1626. The 
Battery's present area is 21 acres — much 
larger than it was originally; three quarters 
of the present park is "made ground."' Fort 
Amsterdam stood on the site now occupied 
by the Custom House. The Aquarium, best 
known as "Castle Garden," rose in 1811. 
Every shovelful of earth between the fort and 
Castle Garden came from the old ramparts of 
the first protection the ancient town possessed. 
The Dutch did not fear the Indians, but the 
English! I could write several chapters about 
the Battery, did the duty come within the 
scope of this work. Here the Dutch settlers 
laid the foundation of the metropolis of the 
New World, and, although they agreed to call 
it "New Amsterdam." they did not finally 
decide upon a name until many pipes of 
schnapps had been drunk and countless dis- 
putes had been had. After choosing the 
Battery site, to carry out an illusion that their 
dear Holland was to be reproduced here, they 
dug a canal along what is now Wall Street- 
it was the earliest instance of "watered 
stocks" in that locality. 

Then came journalism! Peter Zenger's 
New York Weekly Journal, appeared No- 
vember 5, 1733, and his denunciations of 
British rule became so caustic that he was 
thrown into jail, charged with libel and re- 
fused the use of pen, ink and paper. His dun- 
geon was the basement of the City Hall, then 
standing at the head of Broad Street on the 
site of the Sub-Treasury. He edited his paper 
through a chink in the door of his cell, dic- 
tating his articles to an assistant on the out- 
side. He was not able to give the £400 bail. 
The trial occurred in August. 1735. Chief 
Justice DeLancey presided, Bradley was 
Attorney-General. John Chambers appeared 
for the prisoner and pleaded "Not Guilty!" 
Chambers had secured as chief counsel the 
services of Andrew Hamilton, of Philadel- 
phia, aged 80, one of the most distinguished 
lawyers in all the Colonies. Hamilton boldlv 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Ml!) 



admitted 1 
iiii>" and 



ae 



mblication, claiming that "print- 
ibeling" were not synonymous 
terms. He ([noted many passages from the 
Bible, which, with an interpolation of con- 
temporaneous names, would have been ad- 
mittedly libelous. His argument was sophis- 
tical, but it captured the juryandan unanimous 
verdict in favor of the editor was returned! A 
public dinner was given to Hamilton by the 
whole city. 

When the Revolution came, the liberty pole 
was raised at the Battery. A stone, recently 
set. marks the event hut not the exact site of 
the flag-staff. The formal "evacuation" of 
New York occurred at the Battery on Novem- 
ber -2.5. 1?,S.'5, and. although the British nailed 
their colors to the top of the pole and greased 
it. David Van Arsdale, aged 28, climbed it by 
the aid of cleats, fastened thereto with nails ob- 
tained from the little hardware shop of Goelet, 
in Hanover Square. 

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is 
rising upon "the Acropolis of New York" 
Morningside Heights. Forty years more will 
he needed for its completion, by which time 
it will have cost, exclusive of the land, $25,- 
()()().()()(). Architectural drawings indicate that 
it will combine the best features of Gothic 
cathedral building; its massive spire. 425 feet 
in height, will resemble Salisbury, hut higher 
and more ornate; its imposing western front 
with two towers, will recall York and Lin- 
coln; the chevet of chapels at the eastern end 
will he characteristic of the splendid edifices 
of Northern France, imitated at Westminster. 
Cologne and Toledo; its interior decoration 
is intended to he as rich as that of the duomo 
at Milan. The cathedral site is one of the 
most remarkable in the Christian world — re- 
calls Durham to me — and in Pagan lands is 
only equalled by the vast Fotala of the 
Dalai Lama of Buddhism, at Lhasa. Tibet. 
When completed, the edifice will be visible 
from nearly every part of the city above Fifty- 
ninth Street. Its neighbor, the pretty struc- 
ture of St. Luke's Hospital, had its beginning 
in a gift of $5 by a poor woman restored to 
health in one of the public hospitals. From 
that humble sum. under Dr. Muhlenberg's 
fostering care, the property has grown to a 



valuation of nearly $4,000,000. It is one of 
the best-equipped hospitals in the world. 

Chinatown lies to the westward of Chatham 
Square and comprises a triangular section 
bounded by Molt and Doyer Streets and 
Paradise Square. It teems with HIV; natives 
of the "Flowery Kingdom," in their home 
garb but mostly without their queues since 
the latest revolution againsl the Manchus, 
throng the streets and shops. The Josh Tem- 
ple, on the north side of Molt Street, brings 
together the pious at regular intervals for 
prayer and meditation. The home of the 
sacred joss is reached after climbing two 
flights of stairs; there several bonzes are de- 
voutly tending the eternal lire and dusting the 
face of the bin', bronze Buddha. The most 
interesting ceremonials performed at the Mott 
Street temple are in memory of the dead. 
The annual "Feasl of Lanterns" is visited 
by many Americans, who respect the beauti- 
ful myth to which the fete owes its origin — a 
mandarin father, who. for 3,500 years, has 
been seeking a lost daughter of great beauty. 

Broadway is gorged with memories. Near 
Duane Street, the first sewing machine was 
exhibited in a window; curiosity was excited, 
but it was looked upon as a toy— like the Bell 
telephone at the Philadelphia Exposition. On 
Thomas Street, near Church, occurred the 
mysterious murder, never explained, for which 
Edgar Allan Poe suggested a logical but fan- 
ciful solution in his tale, "The Murders in 
the Rue Morgue." Horace Greeley, when a 
journeyman printer, lived near West Broad- 
way in the same street. 1 have spoken of the 
Broadway theatres elsewhere. At a small 
hotel on the corner of Houston Street, re- 
cently demolished, lived John ('. Ileenan. the 
" Benicia Boy"; there I often visited him 
and he was buried from a house in Clinton 
Place. 'Idie still-remembered Burdell mur- 
der occurred at .'!1 Bond Street, east of Broad- 
way. Poe lived in the same street, tempora- 
rily, as guest of the Shaw family and there 
wrote "The Bells" one Sunday morning. 
Clinton Hall faces a plaza where the Mac- 
ready -I'd ires t riots occurred in 1849. In 
Colonade How. fast disappearing, dwelt Wash- 



410 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



rtgton Irving. Grace Church, with its out- 
door pulpit, only exceeded in beauty by 
St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. 

The wonderful development of New ^ ork 
and her vast circle of beautiful suburbs has 
not been tin 1 result of accident or of a special 
dispensation of Providence. It is due above 
all to the energy and efficiency of men like 
Joseph W. Doolittle, who have had confidence 
in the future and prepared the way for growth 
and expansion. 

It would be difficult to find a more interest- 
ing example of the beneficent projector of 
civic improvements than Mr. Doolittle. It 
was he who gave the city of Elizabeth its most 
picturesque suburb El Mora. Herein 1906, 
there was nothing but land and scenery: but 
Mr. Doolittle saw its possibilities. He mapped 
out its pattern of streets and avenues. lie 
underlaid it with a system of sewers and water- 
pipes. He equipped it with telephone service 
and electric light. He gave it a running start 
by building several dozen handsome residences 
and then he threw it open to the public. 

Since then, he has duplicated this success at 
Douglaston Park, which nestles on one of the 
prettiest bays of Long Island Sound. Here 
he secured a large tract of undeveloped land 
and proceeded to transform it into an Eden 
of ideal homes. Streets, mansions, bunga- 
lows all were built in accordance with a gen- 
eral plan, which secured the highest degree 
of beauty and convenience. As it is inside the 
limits of Greater New York, this enterprise 
at once commanded attention, and its com- 
plete success has added much to Mr. Doo- 
little's reputation. 

He is the president and principal stock- 
holder in the El Mora Land Company, the 
Realty Syndicate and the Douglaston Really 
Company. His general policy, by which he 
ha> come to be known among the real estate 
leaders of the United States, is to confine his 
energies to one great project at a time, and 
(o carry it clear through to completion in one 
continuous effort. He has little interest in 
the mere trafficking side of the real estate 
business. What he delights in is to create 
fo develop to transform an uninhabited wood- 
land into a suburb de luxe. 



Mr. Doolittle comes of old New Hampshire 
stock. He was born at Winchester. N. II.. in 
1S(»4. and educated in ihe schools of Man- 
chester, in the same State. After a vear or 



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JOSEPH \V DOOLITTLE 

more in the West, he heard the call of the great 
metropolis of New York and at once plunged 
into the real estate business. At first he 
specialized on hotel property, and went into 
his work with such vim and energy that in 
eighteen months his deals amounted to a total 
of seven million dollars. Then, in 1905, 
when it became evident that Manhattan was 
soon to be reached by subways from the east 
and west. Mr. Doolittle inaugurated his pres- 
ent policy of creating new suburbs into which 
flic residents of overcrowded Manhattan might 
Bow. 

In several years his transactions amounted 
to more than eight millions in Long Island 
and New Jersey. New communities were put 
on the map. New values were created. 
Higher standards of suburban comfort wore 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



411 



realized. Hundreds of families weir given 
good homes and good neighbors. To do such 
work as this, Mr. Doolittle maintains, is the 
duty as well as the profession of the real estate 
operator. lie must lie. at his best, much 
more than a broker and salesman. lie must 
be a provider of new homes. And in this 
respect Mr. Doolittle's work in the making of 
a better New York has certainly been both 
notable and unique. 

Among the younger real estate brokers of 
the upper West Side. Manhattan, is Samuel 
Howell Martin, who was horn in this city, 
September, 1N7N; but when young his parents 
removed to East Orange, X. J., where he was 
educated in the public schools. I le specialized 
in Latin and English, and in 1S!)S began the 
real estate brokerage business with his father 
in Manhattan. He developed much liking 
for the work and has been able to secure many 
appreciative clients. His business has grown 
with the wonderful development of the upper 
West Side, which has made fortunes for so many 
property owners. He is a member of the Real 
Estate Hoard of Brokers and an agent for the 
Phoenix Insurance Company. He is a Re- 
publican, but does not take any part in politics. 

Another real estate man largely identified 
with downtown operations is William II. 
Whiting, born in Brooklyn in 1X4(>. He was 
educated at Public School No. 1 and the Poly- 
technic Institute. He began his commercial 
career with Eberhard Faber & Co. at 131 Wil- 



liam Sheet, this city. Thereafter for two 
years he was associated with J. K. Brick & Co., 
a large manufacturing concern in Brooklyn, 
and in lS(i(i he was cashier in " The Nation" 
office. In |S(>S Mr. Whiting formed ;i co- 
partnership with M. A. I{ ii hi lid in the real 
estate business at 5 Beekman Street, and they 
continued together until Mr. Ruland's death 
in 1907. The linn of Ruland & Whiting was 
one of the best known real estate linns in the 
city. In 1!)1<> Mr. Whiting withdrew from 
the Ruland & Whiting Company of which he 
was president, to form the new linn of Win. 
II. Whiting & Company, taking into part- 
nership his two sons, [rving S. and Ralph l>. 
Whiting, lie has put through some of the 
largesl real estate deals in the lower pari 
of the city. In 1891 he. with his partner, 
organized the Metropolitan Realty Company 
with $500,000 capital and Mr. Whiting has 
been its secretary and treasurer ever since. lie 
is also president of the Richland Realty Co. 
He resides at Bound Brook. X. J., and had 
the honor of being its first Mayor. 

The letting of houses is a tine art ; it requires 
I he tact and finesse of a ( hiudisart. Foremost 
among these experts in New York is .1. Edgar 
Leaycraft, born in this city in 1849 and edu- 
cated at the public schools. He has seen the 
wonderful development of the east and wesl 
sides of Manhattan, above Forty-second Street. 
Like manv of us he can remember when most 




- wine h. m \i: i i \ 



w II. n \\i II w II I I l\i . 



.1 EDG \i: \.\' \\ CH \l I 



4B2 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



of the lots on Madison Avenue were sloughs 
in Summer and skating ponds in Winter. 
I venture the assertion that he can tell us 
when we could have bought property on West 
Seventy-second Street at $200 a front foot! 
He has been an active official in the Real 
Estate Exchange and in the Real Fstate Board 
of Brokers. In recognition of his ability as an 
appraiser. Governor Roosevelt appointed him 
Tax Commissioner in IS!)!), in which office 
he served for five years. He was an appraiser 
on the New Barge ( anal. 

One of the men who has contributed much 
thought and energy to the development of 
Long Island, especially at Floral Bark ami 

Etockville Centre, is 
Daniel Maujer Mc- 
Laughlin, 1) o r n in 
Brooklyn. 1875. He 
attended the B o y s ' 
High School, at which 
he was graduated in 
1894. Throughout his 
school days, he was an 
enthusiast in athletic 
sports and distinguish- 
ed himself in several 
branches thereof. He 
also had a strong liter- 
ary bent, was fond of 
public speaking, debat- 
ing and essay writing; 
ie originator of the High School 
a paper still in existence. After 




I'. M Mill: M, I.AIIIHI.IX 



he was 

Recorder, 

leaving the high school, he entered Corne 
I ni versify, where for four years he specialized 
in law and letters. A short time before his 
graduation he was called home, because of 
the dangerous illness of his father, and did not 
take a degree. At Cornell he was president 
of the Junior class, manager of the '97 foot- 
ball team, captain of the '98 team, manager 
of the Cornell Daily Sun for two years, and a 
prize-speaker. On leaving college Mr. Mc- 
Laughlin entered the insurance field, where 
he successfully operated for four years. At 
the end of that time he made his first entrance 
into the domain of real estate by founding and 
becoming vice-president and general manager 
of the McCormack Real Estate Company, a 
corporation that grew to large proportions, 



due to its manager's ability and foresight in 
securing acreage in highly desirable localities. 
As an advertiser Mr. McLaughlin developed 
rare traits. When he had a fine tract of land 
to exploit, he knew how to attract public at- 
tention to the advantages he had to offer. 
Success emboldened him and he founded sev- 
eral other real-estate enterprises on Long 
Island, among which are the Windsor Land 
& Improvement Co.. of which he is president ; 
tin- St. Albans Terrace Company, the Valley 
Stream Realty Company, Rosedale Terrace 
Company, Floral Bark Villa Company, Rock- 
ville Centre Villa Company, Rockville Centre 
Estates and several others. Mr. McLaughlin 
is a member of the Republican County Com- 
mittee of Kings County; likewise of the Xew 
York Athletic. Long Island Automobile, Cor- 
nell and Invincible clubs. He is an enthusi- 
astic Mason and a Shriner of Kismet Temple. 




C\ R1LLE CARREATJ 

796 Sixth \\im e above 45th Street 

Established ;is Real Estate, Mortgage and Insurance Broker in 1875 

Makes .1 specialty til the management <>! estati 5. 



The amount of gray matter that has been 
devoted to the development of real estate in 
the metropolis and its environments is un- 
appreciated by the community at large. One 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



41:5 




1 . 1 ) W ARD B. Bl IYNTON 



fHOM \s i, REYNOLDS 



! ill HI R.II K G 1 1" idi- 



ot' the most energetic workers in this field has 
been Edward 15. Boynton, born at Hartford. 
Conn., in 1866. His family dates hack to 
!(>:>!). when the Boyntons came from Bridling- 
ton, York County, England. He began his 
business career in his native city at the age 
of fifteen. In 1S!)(> lie came to New York 
and identified himself with the real estate 
business. He had always believed this the 
imperial city of the Western World; that, due 
to its constant growth, real property must 
necessarily enhance in value and that transac- 
tions therein would he a legitimate and profit- 
able business in which to engage. When he 
became identified with the American Real 
Estate Company in 1896, its assets were 
$1.400. 000: hut when he was chosen its [.resi- 
dent in 1!)(),S. its assets had grown to $10,000,- 
ooo. To-day they exceed $20,000,000. If is 
the oldest and one of the largest corporations 
of the kind, having been founded in 1888. Mr. 
Boynton is also president of the Realty Assets 
Company. He is a Republican and served as 
Councilman and Alderman, two years each, 
in his native city of Hartford. He is a mem- 
ber of the Onion League, Transportation, 
Economic and Dunwoodie Country clubs. 

Much of the development of Greater New 
York in recent years has been due to the en- 
thusiasm, coupled with energy, of a few 
courageous real estate men. Among these 
Thomas E. Reynolds commands special at- 



tention as the president of twelve large realty 
corporations, every one of which is actively 
engaged in the improvement of a distinctive 
section of this growing metropolis. Mr. Rey- 
nolds was born in this city in 1866. After 
attending its public schools, he wont to Nash- 
ville, Teiin.. where he continued his studies, 
returning to New York for a course in law, 
from which he was graduated in 1888. En- 
tering his father's linn, he learned the real 
estate business, inaugurated many of the large 
enterprises undertaken by it and after his 
father's decease carried to completion all the 
cherished schemes of his parent. Notably, 
I want to speak of his connection with the 
Manhattan Real Estate and Building Com- 
pany, of which he is president. Its activities 
are ceaseless. Mr. Reynolds served for ten 
years with the Sixty-ninth Regiment, N. G. 
X. Y. He is president of the Corn Exchange, 
Speculator, Financiers', Lorillard and Throgg's 
Neck Realty ( 'ompanies. 

Few real estate operators, as agents or 
builders, have done more toward the wonder- 
ful development of what is described as "the 
Upper West Side" meaning the section of 
Manhattan extending from Central Park to the 
Riverside Drive than Frederick G. Hobbs. 
The firm to which he belongs, Slawson & 
Hobbs, occupies a new and handsome marble 
front structure on Seventy-second Street, uear 
Broadway, and carries several hundred apart- 



H4 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



incuts of the highesl class upon its books. 
Mr. Hobbs hails from Connecticut, where he 
was born June, lS(i4: but he went to Middle- 
ton in this state to attend the Wallkill Academy. 
He plunged into the real estate business in 
1889, selecting, as 1 have said, west side Man- 
hattan property. By energy and popularity 
with his clients, he has achieved success. Ib- 
is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, 
the New York Historical Society. National 
Geographic Society. West End Association. 
Lotos and West Side Republican chilis. 

Deeply interested in art. Samuel Borchardt, 
has contributed to the "city beautiful" several 
apartment houses, which in architectural de- 
sign and elegance of interior surpass any 




SAMUEL BORCH \ 1 : 1 > I 

buildings of like character in the metropolis. 
Especially is this the case with "The Bor- 
chardt" at !)<Sth Street and Broadway, a 
twelve-story building 180x100 feet. Iii the 
erection of this house. Mr. Borchardt spent 
$150,000 more than was necessary to beautify 
the structure with the result that it stands 
to-day the most beautiful apartment on Broad- 
way. Mr. Borchardt is a very wealthy manu- 
facturer, who invests his spare capital in this 



manner, not alone for the return he gets, 1 nit 
in a desire to improve the localities where he 
builds. He was born in San Francisco. Cal., 
June 19, l,S(i(>. but came to this city with his 
parents when only twelve years of aye and 
received his education at the public schools and 
at the College of the City of New York where 
he took a scientific course. He passed through 
with credit and was elected president of the 
Phrenocosmian Society while a member of the 
Class of 1885. 

After leaving college he became a repre- 
sentative for a mercantile house and after 
a couple of years of service, organized the 
firm of S. Borchardt & Co.. manufacturers of 
shoes, sandals and leggings, now employing 
seven hundred persons. In addition to "The 
Borchardt," Mr. Borchardt owns "The Wil- 
mington" at 97th Street and Broadway, and 
■'bhe Stuart Arms" adjoining on 97th Street. 
"The Winthrop" and "The Melville." both 
located on opposite corners at 1 1 St It Street and 
Amsterdam Avenue, facing Columbia Uni- 
versity and a number of parcels in Spuyten 
Duvvil and ocean fronts on the Rockaway 
coast. He is very fond of art and at his 
home possesses several masterpieces by old 
painters of the Dutch and Flemish schools. 
Mr. Borchardt is domestic in his tastes and 
cares little for the club life of the city, finding 
relaxation from business cares in golfing and 
automobiling and touring Europe. 

lb- married when thirty-five years of age, 
Miss Eva Rosenfield, a beautiful young lady 
of Detroit. Mich., and they have two children, 
a son and a daughter. 

Mr. Borchardt gives liberally to charity and 
is a member of numerous organizations de- 
voted to that work. 

Alfred V. Amy was born in New York in 
1868, and is a son of the late Henry Amy. a 
well known hanker. He was educated at 
Fordham University and the ( Columbia ( lollege 
Law School, from which he received his de- 
gree upon graduation, commencing his busi- 
ness career with R. V. Harnett & Co.. real 
estate auctioneers. 

Becoming familiar with the details of the 
business, he. in 1892, commenced operations 
for himself, with offices at No. ? Bine Street, 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



415 



and confined his work principally to sales of 
Murray Hill and West-Side property. His 
acquaintances were many and his efforts met 
with considerable success, many of his impor- 
tanl sales being in the heart of the present 
Herald Square section. 

Having for years kepi in touch with the 
developments of those sections of Manhattan, 
north of Central Park. and the upper Wesl Side. 
Mr. Amy. of the firm of A. V. Amv & Co., 
became an expert appraiser, his services as 
such being continually in demand by real 
estate owners, lawyers, estates and corpora- 
tions. 

With the future growth of the West Side 



especially to the management and care of 
apartment house property of the larger and 
better grade, the owners of which, in mam 
cases, being representative old New York 
estates and conservative investors. 

Mr. Amy is a member of the Real Estate 
Hoard of Brokers, being one of its Governors, 
on its Hoard of Appraisers, and at present 
holding the office of treasurer. He is also a 

member of many social and charitable organi- 
zations, and given to outdoor sports. 

Ihirty-two years of constantly increasing 
business has placed John ( '. R. Eckerson 

among the leaders in the real estate Ihimiio- 
iii New York ( 'il v. 

Mr. Eckerson, who is a member of the linn 




ALFRED V AMY 



JOHN c l: ECKERSi >\ 



li (SI I'll I'.l RGER 



and Harlem showing great possibilities, Mr. 
Amy. in 1901, moved his offices to One 
Hundred and Fifteenth Street, corner of St. 
Nicholas Avenue, and admitted L. V. O'Dono- 
hue, son of the "Coffee King," to partnership. 
His connection continued until 1905, when 
other interests caused Mr. O'Donohue's re- 
tirement. Since that time, Mr. Amy has oper- 
ated alone under the old firm name, being 
ably assisted by a force of competent em- 
ployees. 

In 1907 the business had increased to such 
proportions that more room was required and 
the firm removed to its present spacious quar- 
ters at the corner of 7th Avenue and 115th 
Street, facing the newly constructed Parkway 
and directly opposite the old office. 

The firm, of late years, has confined itself 



of Thomas & Eckerson, was born in this city, 
and obtained his education in the public 
schools. His first connection was with a 
banking house ami he subsequently entered 
a lawyer's office, where he gained a knowledge 
of realty conditions. 

The business strongly appealed to him and 
finally determining to embark in il. he. in 
1880, became a member of the firm, which 
for over thirty years has occupied the same 
offices at No. 35 West Thirtieth Street, mak- 
ing a specialty of handling estates and con- 
ducting a general real estate and insurance 
brokerage business. 

Mr. Eckerson is connected with several other 

corporations and has keen a member of the 
Heal Estate Hoard of Brokers since its organi- 
zation. 



416 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



What can be accomplished by close appli- 
cation and fidelity to an employer is illustrated 
in the career of Joseph Berger, of the real 
estate firm of John J. Clancy & Co. Mr. 
Berger was horn in New York City in 1SS(! 
and entered Mr. Clancy's employ at the age 
of ten vears. lie was then earning $2.00 per 
week, but being painstaking and observing 
he was soon getting a considerably larger 
salary and was given the opportunity of 
graduating from Public School No. (»!> and 

DO 

completing his education at the City College. 

lie had scarcely reached his majority when 
Mr. Clancy, who was (puck to recognize 
merit, admitted him to partnership and the 
new firm became John J. Clancy & Co., with 
offices at Fifty-seventh Street and Broadway. 

Mr. Berger at once became the active man 
in the firm and carefully attended to all 
the detail work, with the result that the busi- 
ness expanded and at the time of Mr. Clancy's 
sudden death was. and still continues, the 
most prosperous up-town. The value of Mr. 
Berber's services to. and the esteem in which 
Mr. Clancy held him, is attested by the hitter's 
will, which left Mr. Berger the entire business, 
and besides contained a bequest of $25,000. 
While the story of Mr. Berger's success reads 
like a romance and while Mr. Clancy's gener- 
osity seems unusual in these prosaic days, 
there is nothing remarkable about either event. 
Mr. Berger was energetic and creative and 
Mr. Clancy's act was an acknowledgment 
of his former partner's value and a reward 
for faithful service while an employee. 

The following from a letter written by Mr. 
Joseph 1'. Day to Mr. Berger after Mr. 
Clancy's death is self-explanatory: "I can 
assure you that it will afford me great pleas- 
ure to continue our very pleasant relations 
and 1 do this with the same degree of con- 
fidence in your ability and management as 1 
had in Mr. Clancy's. 1 could not but place 
the greatest trust in the man who was so closely 
connected with him for so long a time." 

As I have had occasion to say before, real 
estate has engaged the best ability of the clever- 
est men in New York. Among such persons 
is F. R. Wood, born in Washington. I). ('.. 
and educated at the public schools of this city, 
Clinton Grammar School, Oneida Co.. X. ^ ., 



and Packard's Business College. He began 

active business as a clerk in a Fifth Avenue 
bank, where he remained two years, next 
serving an equal length of time in the Ameri- 
can Exchange National Bank. He then went 
West, where he first realized the importance 
of the real estate business in Manhattan. The 
growth of western cities was slow compared 
with that of the metropolis. After eight years 
in Denver, he returned East, satisfied that 
nobody could go wrong in the purchase of 
property on this island. 

Mr. Wood deserves distinction for selling 
the first million dollar apartment house north 
of Fifty-ninth street (1902). He holds official 
relations with the Dorlton Corporation, the 
El Dorado Realty < oinpany. Waywood Realty 
Company and F. R. Wood, W. II. Dolson Co. 
He is in sympathy with the Republican party. 

In the comparatively few years since his 
entry into the realty business in New York 
City, Robert P. Zobel has been wonderfully 
successful and is now recognized as an expert 
in values in that line. Possessing the power 
of discernment, intuitive knowledge and a 
very retentive memory, he soon learned all 
the details of the business, becoming perfectly 
familiar with the district in which he operates 
—from Fourteenth to Fifty-ninth Streets, 
between Third and Eighth Avenues, and can 
tell, without recourse to records, the value and 
last selling price of almost every piece of realty 
in that district. This knowledge has been 
one of the secrets of his great success and has 
led to his being frequently called upon as an 
appraiser and ofttimes as an expert witness 
in court proceedings. Mr. Zobel was born 
in Breslau, Germany, December '2(1. 1869, 
and was educated in Berlin, becoming pro- 
ficient in French, Latin and Greek before he 
was fifteen years old and acquiring a. knowl- 
edge of English that aided him greatly, when, 
in 18S4, his father, Adolph Zobel, who was a 
successful merchant, met with reverses and 
brought the family to America. 

Mr. Zobel's first experience with Xew York 
City was in a lawyer's office where he studied 
to perfect himself in English, but did not finish 
the course as the possibilities of ultimate 
success looked too remote. He then entered 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



u? 



the employ of a Wall Street banking house 
where his knowledge was greatly added to and 
subsequently became a salesman for a mer- 
cantile house. It was at this period thai Mr. 
Zobel realized that the anioiiiil of energy re- 
quired to sell a small hill of goods would 
bring greater results if expended in another 
field, and at the age of nineteen, deciding that 
real estate offered the best possibilities, opened 
an office at No. 136 Libertv Street and em- 




ROBERT 1' Z< 'HI I, 



harked in that line. lie devoted several years 
to mastering the details of the business and in 
1895 decided that the best field of operation 
was in the central part of the city. He re- 
moved his office to Twenty-fourth Street and 
looking the territory carefully over, came to 
the conclusion that if suitable buildings were 
provided, the wholesale and light manufac- 
turing lines would soon invade il. He then 
commenced to creel store. loft and office 
buildings, being the pioneer in steel const ruc- 
tion north of Fourteenth Street, and his judg- 
ment has been verified by sonic of the biggest 
wholesale houses in the city locating in the 
district, in which he has erected or caused to 



be erected, fifty buildings ot the most improved 
character. Mr. Zobel ha-- always been deeply 
interested in the improvement of Fourth 
Avenue, and the marked change in the char- 
acter of buildings on thai thoroughfare is 
largely due l<> his efforts and initiative. 

Mr. Zobel is president of the Brunswick 
Realty Company, which buys and sells sites 
for mercantile buildings only; of the Stone- 
wall Realty Company, which buys and sells 
property of every description and of the 
Fourth Avenue Holding Company, which 
operates principally in lease-.. He is also a 
director of the Century Hank and is now de- 
voting much attention to financial work, his 
aim being to eventually enter that field. 

Mr. Zobel belongs to no clubs, being do- 
mestic in his tastes and finding diversion from 
business cares in his home circle and in social 
gatherings with his relatives and intimate 
friends, lie makes frequenl trips abroad 
and. being a Huenl linguist, is perfectly at 
home in most of the Continental cities. In 
this country his vacations are spent at Lake- 
wood, X. .1., where he thinks the climate is 
most conducive to mental rest and a remedy 
for physical fatigue. He is a Democrat in 
national politics, hut absolutely independent 
in state and municipal affairs, using his in- 
fluence for the candidate who. in his judg- 
ment, is by reason of integrity and ability 
best fitted for office. He has always been 
deeply interested in charitable undertakings 
and lends his support to hospitals and asylum-.. 
which he considers the best way of rendering 
aid to the unfortunate and worthy. 

Many qualities are required for a successful 
real estate auctioneer and Joseph I*. Day 
possesses them. Although less than forty 
years of age, he has handled several of the 
largesl partition sales of city property ever held 
in New York. He started out in business for 
himself at twenty-one, after a common school 
education. His first achievement thai at- 
tracted attention was writing the heaviest 
accident policy previously known in this 
country, covering all disabilities arising from 
change of motor power of the Third Avenue 
Surface Railroad and the Forty-second Street, 
Manhaltanville and St. Nicholas railroads. 



41.X 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




JOSEPH P. DAY 



\VI I.LI AM P I! \l 



T. WAHIi WASSON 



Thereafter, Mr. Day developed capacity as 
an auctioneer, selling the famous Ogden 
estate. 1,500 lots; then the Doherty estate 
bringing $1,913,600, in a single afternoon's 
selling. In May. 1908, he disposed of over 
2,000 lots, a t'eal achieved at a time of 
money stringency. In six years he revolu- 
tionized the real estate auction business, his 
sales in one year aggregating $30,000,000,— 
a record. 

The wonderful developments of Brooklyn 
and Long Island have not a more enthusiastic 
"boomer" than William P. Rae. His long 
residence in Brooklyn and his large business 
interests find him identified with almost every 
important movement tending to advance real 
estate developments. He was born in Man- 
hattan, 1861, and educated at its public schools. 
He started as a hoy of fourteen in a hardware 
store, soon going with Teff't. Weller & Com- 
pany, wholesale dry goods merchants. Next 
we hear of him as a clerk in flic Amsterdam 
State Bank, on the Bowery, and. in 1879, he 
made his first entrance into real estate business, 
leading ultimately to a partnership with Paul 
C. Grening. In 11KKI he withdrew from that 
firm to establish a business of his own under 
a corporate name of the William P. Rae Com- 
pany. He has conducted since that time a 
general real estate business in the management 
of estates, developing suburban tracts and 
auctioneering; Mr. Rae being the official 
auctioneer for several terms under Sheriffs Nor- 
man F. Dike. Alfred'!'. Hoblev and ('has. B. 



Law, and has acted for the city and other prop- 
erty interests in many condemnation proceed- 
ings and elevated railroad cases. He is a 
close student of the development of the city 
and Long Island. Mr. Rae is president of the 
Jamaica Hillcrest Company, of the Asso- 
ciated Realty Improvement Company; treas- 
urer of the Sea Gate Improvement Company, 
and secretary and manager of the Norton Point 
Land Company, which developed Sea Gate. 

T. Ward Wasson. a native of Detroit. Mich.. 
began his business career in that city with the 
firm of Parke, Davis & Co. He served in the 
Registrar of Deeds office there and had the 
management of property for his father. Thus 
he acquired familiarity with real estate trans- 
actions. This fact led the way to his choice 
of a livelihood. He moved to New York City, 
and during the first year of his residence in the 
metropolis he forsook five different positions 
for others, each a step up the ladder. He 
remained with the McVickar-Gaillard Realty 
Company for five years and. in 1!)<)!). the firm 
of Knapp & Wasson Co.. Inc.. was formed, 
witli Mr. Wasson as secretary and treasurer. 
Since that time the company has been success- 
ful in its operations. 

Originality applied to business sometimes 
produces astonishing results. The practice ol 
selling real estate through newspaper adver- 
tising was founded on a theory of George D. 
Grundy. Beginning with an advertising ex- 
penditure of $5.00 a week, the firm of W. C. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



H9 



Reeves & Company, of which Mr. Grundy is 
President, now spend $500 ;i week to reach 
the public. Mr. Grundy is a native of Long 
Island and was horn at Blue Point in 1S?^. 
Entering into partnership in 1!M(4 with W. C. 
Reeves, his brother-in-law, under the firm 
name of W. ('. Reeves & Company, with 
offices at No. 1 24 East 23rd Street, Mr. 
Grundy has since then, by steadfast adher- 
ence to his convictions, sold upwards of twelve 
millions dollars' worth of real estate on Long 
Island alone and four thousand acres in New 
Jersey in small tracts. Mr. Grundy after a 
short time bought oui his brother-in-law and 
had the firm name incorporated. The firm 
is interested more particularly in the splendid 
class of property to be found in Mollis. Rich- 
mond Hill. East Hampton and Southampton, 
and has an enormous clientele numbering 
over 17,000 people, which is drawn from 
every state in the Union. 

Any account of the tremendous activities in 
real estate in Greater New York would he in- 
complete without distinct reference to the 
prominent firm of Adrian II. Muller & Son. 
the present partners in which are William F. 
Redmond, Andrew .1. McCormack and Sam- 
uel ( i. Redmond. Ad- 
rian II. Muller. founder 
of the house, started 
business in 1840 and. 
during his life, con- 
ducted many of the 
largest auction sales of 
rea 1 estat e in New 
York City. Among 
them were the estates 
of Ilarscn. Burr, Fur- 
niss. Eaile. Post, Fogg, 
Boggs, Chittenden, 
Brooks, Embury, Mar- 
tin and Leake, and the 
Watts Orphan Asy- 
lum. He was one of the 
by the City Comp- 




ADRIAN 11 Mil 111; 



'I'l 



iraisers 



appointed 



holler to value all the property belonging to 
the City of New York, his associates being 
Anthony J. Bleecker and Homer Morgan. 
He was one of the trustees named in the will 
of .lames Roosevelt to found Roosevelt Hos- 
pital, of which he was president several years. 
Since his death the firm has continued to 



conduct weekly auction sales of real estate* 
stocks and bonds at the Real Estate Exchange. 
The present head of the firm, William F. 
Redmond, has had long experience in every 
branch of the business. 

One of the known "hustlers" in Manhattan 

real estate is John Noble Golding, horn in (hi-. 
city, 1860, who has literally Felt the growth 
of Manhattan because he has been a part of 
it. lie was educated at Trinity School and 
at Grammar School .'!."). At the age of l!» 
he entered the real estate office of B. K. 
Stevenson, Jr.. hut three years later joined 
the active house of A. II. Muller & Sons, 
where he remained four years, during which 
time he acted as a broker for the late Henry 
I?. Hyde. President of the Equitable Life 
Assurance Society, in acquiring the block of 
property on which the Equitable building now 
stands. Subsequently, owing to the success 
with which he had served Mr. Hyde, he be- 
came identified with the Equitable organiza- 
tion as its real estate attorney, with the firm 
name of Brown & Golding, and managed all 
the property under control of that great cor- 
poration. Mr. Golding began business for 
himself as a real estate broker in 1890. 

It would be almost impossible to chronicle 
all the achievements of Mr. Golding. lie 
leased t4 and 46 Broadway to the Standard 
Oil Company, for $60,000 a year; sold to the 
New York Central all the property acquired 
at the Grand Central terminal: also for the 
Erie terminal in New Jersey: sold the old 
Plaza Hotel to the syndicate that elected the 
present building; sold the Langham Hotel on 
Fifth Avenue: managed the entire real estate 
deal for John Wanamaker in acquiring the site 
for his new Broadway store, and sold the Park 
Place. Barclay Street and Broadway property 
to F. W. Woolworth for the tallest building 
in the world. ( )n Fifth Avenue, between 
Fifty-ninth and One Hundredth Streets, he has 
sold practically every lol on which millionaires 
have erected mansions. He sold the site on 
which stands the Singer building, lower Broad- 
way; that of the Lawyers' Title Building; that 
of the Second National Bank and the Orphan 
Asylum block. lie has been connected with 
nearly all the large real estate deals in this 
city during recent years. 



120 



THE BOO K of NEW YORK 




THOMAS J. O'REILL'i 



j( m.N N. Gi ilium; 



WILLIAM H. MllFFITT 



It is a pleasure to know that the newspaper 
business may be made a preparatory course 

for successful achievement in the real estate 
field. William II. Moffitt, to-day one of the 
leading real estate operators in this city, started 
his career in that way. He was horn at Black- 
stone, Mass.. November, 1858, but early in 
life, was removed to Auburn. \. Y. where 
he was graduated at its Academy in 1877. 
After three years' experience in dry goods, 
he associated himself with the Evening Auburn- 
niii, a small daily, as assistant city editor and 
advertising manager. A wide circle of ac- 
quaintances formed through this connec- 
tion, and the obvious necessity for a live 
man in a dead town of 25,000 people im- 
pelled Mr. Moffitt to enter the real estate 
business. In two years he developed every 
acre of land within one mile of Auburn and 
sold houses and lots on the installment plan. 
He soon exhausted the supply and. in 1886, 
left for Kansas City, where he spent one year. 
Next he went to Chicago and studied the real 
estate business for one year and then came 
direct to the metropolis. He began business 
here in a small office on Liberty Street, hiring 
desk loom at $5 per week. His offices to-day 
occupy the entire third Moor of a large build- 
ing on Madison Avenue 4,500 square feet of 
Moor space. lie has a country home. "Wil- 
low Brook." at Islip, comprising 250 acres, 



with a house of steel and concrete. Italian 
style, that cost $125,000. Mr. Moffitt believes 
his experience in journalism, brief as it was. 
laid the foundation for his success in meeting 
with his fellowmen. He is president of the 
W. II. Moffitt Realty Company, Ocean Shore 
Realty Company, and Penatagust Lumber 
Company. He is commodore of the Bay 
Shore Motor Boat Club, president of the Islip 
Board of Trade, of the South Side Fair and 
of the South Side Ivennel Club; a member of 
the Chamber of Commerce of New York; 
belongs to the New York Athletic. Catholic. 
South Shore Golf and Columbia Yacht clubs. 
Another successful competitor in the real 
estate business is Thomas J. O'Reilly, born 
in this city, August, 1879, and educated at the 
parochial and public schools. He entered the 
employ of the New York Life Insurance Com- 
pany, in bSi).>. at its Union Square branch, 
after finishing a commercial course, ami re- 
mained with that institution until 1!)<>7. hav- 
ing been advanced to different positions in the 
Agency Department until he was created 
Agencv Instructor. He then resigned to enter 
the real estate business. In this he has been 
successful. In addition to general brokerage. 
he has the management of several of the largest 
apartment houses on the west side. He has 
frequently served as an appraiser and as an 
expert. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



121 




GERALD R BROWN 



Gerald R. Brown was born in Brooklyn, 
May .'!. 1857, the son of Theodore Rudderow 
and Caroline Edwards (Timpson) Brown. 
The family is of English, Irish and Dutch 
descent, the American branch being founded 
by Roberi Brown who came to this country 
in 1750. 

Mr. Brown was educated at Lockwood's 
Academy, Adelphi Academy and the Poly- 
technic Institute in Brooklyn, and after rinisli- 
ing his schooling entered the employ of I lie 
Equitable Life Assurance Society as an office 
boy. He was attentive to his work and the 
value of his service was recognized by pro- 
motions until he was given charge of all build- 
ings and real estate of the company and in 
1907 was made Comptroller. In 1890 be, 



with John X. Golding, formed the real estate 
firm of Golding & lb-own. and although the 
firm has been long dissolved. Mr. Brown is 
still interested in real estate operations and is 
a member and Governor of the Heal Estate 
Board of Brokers. His long connection with 
realty, especially in (he financial section of 
the citv. has made him familiar with downtown 
values and there is no man in the line that 
has a more comprehensive knowledge on that 
subject a knowledge that has been of great 
value to him in his connections with the ad- 
ministration of the Equitable Society's real 
estate interests. Mr. Brown i> also con- 
versant with values and conditions in all 
of the important cities of the I niteil States 
and Canada. 



(.•22 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Mr. Brown is a member of the Lawyers' 
Club and the Pilgrims in New York City, the 
Englewood Club, the Englewood Golf Club 
and the Englewood Field Club, of Englewood, 
\. J., where his home is located. 

The development of the Borough of the 
Bronx has been a most significant incident, 
due to the consolidation of the surrounding 
cities and villages with the original metropo- 
lis on Manhattan Island. In ten years, the 
region has increased in population from 
.•><». <l<><> to 500,000. A man who has con- 
tributed as much, if not more, than any other 
individual to this marvelous growth is J. 
Clarence Davies, who comes of a race of real 
estate developers and was prompt to see the 
impulse which the extension of the city limits 
over a part of Westchester Comity would im- 
part. Mr. Davies was born in this city in 
1N<>7. and after a course at the public schools 
entered the College of the City of New 
York. Recognizing the inevitable northward 
growth of the metropolis, he abandoned the 
manufacturing business in 1889 to plunge into 
real estate enterprises. This act was inspired 
by the fact that his forebears, for three pre- 
vious generations, had been owners or oper- 
ators in city property. Since that day, Mr. 
Davies has sold or developed most of the large 
acreage tracts in the Bronx, direct from the 
original owners; he has brought millions of 
dollars into that borough for investment. 
When the subway opened, he sold, in eight 
weeks. $20,000,000 worth of Bronx realty. 



He is a director in several banks and a mem- 
ber of many clubs. 

A young man who has taken part in the 
editorship of the Harvard Lampoon and ( 'rim- 
son may be expected to distinguish himself 



ater in life. A member of the editorial stall's 
of both publications was 



[rving Ruland, 



graduated in 1889. The Institute of 1770 and 
the Historical Society numbered him on their 
membership lists and he left the University 
with honorable mention in Political Economy. 
Entering the office of Ruland & Whiting, a 
firm established by his father. Manly A. Ru- 
land. in l<S(i7. Mr. Ruland has obtained for 
himself enviable standing in his profession. 
He frequently has been retained by the 
City of New York and by the Public Service 
Commission in condemnation and certiorari 
proceedings and has been notably successful 
in the carrying out of numerous important 
real estate transactions. Mr. Ruland was 
for seven years an active member of Troop '•2. 
Squadron A, and served with his corps in the 
Spanish War. He has contributed some in- 
teresting articles to the newspapers on the sub- 
ject of real estate, is president and a governor 
of the Real Estate Board of Brokers, president 
of the R. E. Exchange and director of a num- 
ber of large real estate companies. 

The Dominion of Canada has furnished one 
of the most active men in the real estate busi- 
ness in this city. Edward D. Paulin. born July. 
1S(»(>. at Woodstock, Ontario. He was edu- 
cated in the schools of Canada and at the age 




i < i. \i;i:.nci; i > \ \ 1 1 - 



IRVING RULAND 



EDWARD n PAULIN 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



123 



of sixteen went to the Northwest wilderness 
for three years. Returning East, he hailed 
at Sault Ste. Marie, where al 21 lie engaged 
in the hardware trade and developed a large 
business. Mr. Paulin came to New York 
in 1898, and promptly entered the real estate 
field. He saw the possibilities of suburban 
growth and made that his specialty. Among 
the most successful of his developments has 
been Leonia. N. J., he being president of the 
Leonia Heights Land Company. While at 
Sault Ste. Marie, he was instrumental in 
forming companies For the utilization of its 
water-power — enterprises that have made that 
town famous. His ancestry is Scotch-English; 
he has been entirely too much taken up with 
business to enter into social organizations. 
Charles F. Xoves is one of the younger 
real estate men handling a business of large 
proportions. He was born in Norwich, Conn., 
July li). 1878, and educated at the Norwich 
Academy, coming to New York City when 
twenty years old and organizing the Charles 
F. Xoves Company, with offices at No. 92 
William Street. 'The business grew from 
practically nothing until it is to-day one of the 
leading firms in the city. 

Seventy employees are required to super- 
intend the various buildings under the com- 
pany's control and it was recently found neces- 
sary to open a branch office at Sixth Avenue 
and Twenty-third Street. Mr. Xoves has 
made a number of innovations, one of which 



is the division of profits among the employees 
at the end of each year, in proportion to their 
earning capacity and term of service. He is 
a member of the Union League Club of 
Brooklyn, the New York Athletic, Crescent 
Alhleti<-. Drug and Chemical and Under- 
writers clubs of New York City; the Masonic 
Club, Brooklyn League, Real Estate Board 
of Brokers, and is a director of the Realty 
League of New York City, ;• director of 
the Norwich Morning Bulletin and several 
other corpora I ions. 

A life-long experience in the real estate busi- 
ness has given George Rowland Read a 
knowledge of realty conditions and values that 
places him in the expert class and makes his 
opinion of great value. 

Mr. Read was born in Brooklyn in 1849, 
and was educated at the Polytechnic Institute 
there. In 1867 he entered the employ of the 
real estate firm of E. II. Ludlow & Co., where 
he remained for seventeen years, and in 1884 
started in business for himself. The present 
firm of (ieo. R. Read & Co. was organ- 
ized and it has. guided by Mr. Read's expert 
judgment, been successfully interested in some 
of the largest and most important realty trans- 
actions in New York City and the contiguous 
territory lying within the suburban /one. 

In addition to being president of George 
R. Read & Co.. Mr. Read occupies a similar 
position with the Mutual Trust Company, 
of Westchester Countv and the Waccabuc 




CHARLES I V '"i ES 



G I 1 1 1 . 1 I : READ 



DAVID r. I'llll.l.ll': 



424 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



Company. He is a member of the Metropoli- 
tan Museum of Art and Down Town, Union. 
Metropolitan and Eliding and Coaching clubs. 
Having spent his entire life in the real estate 
business, David L. Phillips has come to be 
recognized as an expert in realty values in 
New York City and in the many beautiful sec- 
tions within the metropolitan suburban zone. 
He was horn in New York City, June 3, 1861, 
and is of English and Dutch extraction. He 
was educated in the public schools, after which 
he entered the employ of L. J. Phillips & Co.. 
of which his father was the head, and thor- 
oughly mastered every detail of the business. 
He was admitted to the firm and upon his 
father's death became the senior member. 

The firm of L. J. Phillips & Co. is one of 
the leaders in real estate activities and does a 
large auctioneering and appraising business. 
The offices are at No. 158 Broadway and No. 
261 Columbus Avenue. Mr. Phillips is a 
director of I he Great Eastern Casualty and 
Indemnity Company, and a member of several 
clubs and social organizations. 

There is practically 
no end to the fortunes 
made in real estate dur- 
ing the past generation. 
The most promising 
field for such an active 
business life has been 
New 'S ork City and its 
immediate environs. 
Among successful op- 
erators is Pitch II. 
Medbury, born on a 
farm near Hamilton. 
Madison ( 'ountv. this 
state, in September, 
I860. His education was obtained in his 
native town, where he also acquired much 
of his business preparation for the career 
he followed after coming to the metropo- 
lis, for which he has always had a natural 
liking. Mr. Medbury is a descendant of 
Governor Lewis Winslow, who was the sec- 
ond Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts. He never has held any 
political office, but is a staunch Republican. 
He is a member of the Crescent Athletic Club, 
of Brooklyn. 




FITCH II MEDBUm 



Nowhere within thirty-five minutes of 
Herald Square is there such suburban property 
on the market at such favorable terms as is 
to be found at Massapequa, L. I., a station 
on the Montauk Division of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad. It begins exactly 12 miles beyond 
the Greater New York line and has a frontage 
of several miles upon the Great South May. 
The exploitation of this large tract of high, 
level land has been accomplished by the 
Queens Land and Title Company and so 
pronounced has been its success that a city 
has risen in four years upon what was scarcely 
occupied farm property. Within the borders 
of the new city are four beautiful lakes, con- 
served and owned by the City of New York 
for use of the Water Department of the Bor- 
ough of Brooklyn. These charming bits of 
water, together with the Great South Bay and 
the near proximity to the ocean give a most 
delightful climate in summer, temperature 
being upwards of 15 degrees cooler than on 
Manhattan Island. 

With magnificent highways, high wooded 
land, the lakes, the bay. the ocean, beautiful 
old homes and private parks, churches, schools 
and clubs, golf, fishing, boating and sailing, 
Massapequa possesses all the natural attrac- 
tions and advantages possible to be had in 
suburban home life for man, woman or child. 
With such a foundation to build upon it is 
not surprising that the development of Mas- 
sapequa has been unusually rapid. That it 
is being developed along unusually high- 
grade lines is evidenced by the distinctive 
type of architecture adopted, the majority of 
the homes being of hollow tile or stucco, fire- 
proof, French villa type of construction. 
With the exceptional transportation facilities 
afforded by the completion of the electric 
transit to the Pennsylvania depot, Massapequa 
will present an ideal suburban home site 
within about half an hour of the heart of 
Manhattan. 

The owners and developers of Massapequa 
have had wide experience in the development 
of high class suburban properties. Allen T. 
Ilaight, President and George F. Haight, Sec- 
retary and Treasurer of the Queens Land and 
Title Company before purchasing the proper- 
ties comprising Massapequa successfully 



THE HOOK of NEW VOliK 



4-25 



developed and sold "Manhattan Terrace," a 
large tract of land in Brooklyn, south of 
Prospect Park. 

The career of Charles Newmark, who at 
the age of twenty-four years, is one of the 
city's most successful builders, illustrates what 
ambition and application can accomplish. 

lie was born in New York City, September 
1."). 1887, and was educated at the public and 
high schools. At the age of fifteen, when mos1 
boys are thinking of play, lie entered the em- 
ploy of Robert M. Silberman, a builder, wear- 
ing overalls and receiving a weekly wage of 
four dollars. Two years later he was super- 
intendent for the Mckinley Construction 
Company, building thirty or forty houses 
annually, and at the age of twenty years was 
in business for himself as a full-fledged builder, 
his first operation being two eight-story apart- 
ment houses at Broadway and One Hundred 
and Eleventh Street, which he turned over 
at a large profit. At this period he concluded 
that nine-story apartment houses, on side 
streets, would be a desirable and paying 
proposition, and commenced such construction, 
being followed in this line of work by nearly 
all the realty companies, and meeting with 
great success. 

Mr. Newmark's thorough training in prac- 
tical building, coupled with his complete 
knowledge of realty values in the sections in 
which he builds, are the reasons he has never 
vet had a losing operation. lie is now build- 



ing "Laureate Hall," a ten-story apartment 
house al One Hundred and Nineteenth Street 
and Amsterdam Avenue, in the college settle- 
ment. This house will be in suites of two. 
three and four rooms and is especially designed 
for teachers and students, lie is also aooul 
lo start another building of the same size at 
One Hundred and Twentieth Street and 
Amsterdam Avenue. 

In addition lo his building operations, 
Mr. Newmark is vice-president of the Con- 
solidated Chandelier Company. He i- a 
Republican, believing thai this party 
stands alone for the nation's commercial 
I u'ogress. 

Dissatisfied with mercantile pursuits to 
which he turned his attention after leaving 
school, Samuel Marx became a real estate 
auctioneer, and in thai line of work has built 
up a reputation that keeps him constantly 
employed, lie was born in New York City, 
May 10. L867, and came of one of those old- 
fashioned bi^ families of which he was 
the oldest of thirteen children, and al the 
age of twenty-one started in business 
as a tailor. The prospects not being 
bright, he commenced lo sell real estate al 
auction. Mr. Marx is a Democrat, and during 
the years of 1908-'09-'10 and '11 was a mem- 
ber of the Board of Aldermen and always look 
an active pari in the deliberations of thai 
body. He is a member of the 15. 1*. < ). Elks, 
the Knights of Pythias, the Samuel Tichner 




CHARLES MWM VRK 



II - I I w \l: I M. K\li Jl I 



SAMUEL \l MIX 



126 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Society. Independent Order Free Sons of 
Israel, the Columbia and Owasco clubs, also 
of the Real Estate Exchange and is president 
of the "Marx Fraternity," organized and in- 
corporated for the mutual protection of the 
family. It is the first of its kind; and only 
members of the immediate Family can join. 
They meet at the residences of the members 
every second week, and it is the means of 
preserving the family interests and unity. 

Long Island has been the field upon which 
many real estate campaigns have been planned. 
organized and fought out to successful real- 
ization. I have always felt a peculiar interest 
in the achievements of II. Stewart McKnight 
and his four energetic brothers, because they 
came here from Chambersburg, Pa., the 
original home of my ancestors after whom the 
historic old town is named. Mr. McKnight 
was a young lawyer, but saw far greater possi- 
bilities in the development of Long Island than 
in the slow growth of a legal clientage, how- 
ever successful. He didn't have a great deal 
of capital himself, lmt was able to ally him- 
self with men of wealth who admired his genius 
for organization, and. in 1905, he established 
The McKnight Realty Company. 

The first proposition grappled was a large 
tract near Bayside, beyond Flushing, which 
at large expense he attractively laid out in 
" i plots. lie immediately brought his four 



VI 



brothers. Ira Thomas. John Calvin. A. 
Maxwell and Edgar Scott McKnight into 
active cooperation. These young men ren- 
dered special services. The first, Ira Thomas 
McKnight, is an engineer and naturally be- 
came the head of the construction and de- 
velopment department, accomplishing remark- 
able engineering feats in landscape gardening, 
drainage, sewerage and water proposition. 
Another brother, John Calvin, became vice- 
president of the McKnight Realty Company, 
and was of rare value owing to his extensive 
acquaintance with prominent capitalists in the 
metropolitan district. He was well known. 
owing to the fact that he had been secretary 
to Ex-Gov. R. R. Odell, and had served for a 
brief time in the same capacity with Col. 
Roosevelt, prior to his election to the governor- 
ship. A. Maxwell McKnight was for a time 
secretary of the New York Produce Exchange 



and Edgar Scott McKnight, the youngest 

brothei-. has had a thorough training in real 
estate business. 

The president of this invincible organization 
is II. Stewart McKnight, who is a leader in all 
matters of public interest affecting the Bor- 
ough of Queens. He was president of the 
Long Island Real Estate Exchange and he 
is probably more familiar with every nook and 
cornel- of the big island than any man in the 
real estate business to-day; not a road, lane 
or path is unknown to him. His latest under- 
taking is the development of the Great Neck 
Estates, a charming tract of high land on that 
well known promontory of the North Shore. 
Miles of streets with concrete sidewalks and 
many villas arc already in process of construc- 
tion. 

Long Island property has felt the keen 
impulse of growth during the past decade 
The completion of four bridges across the 
Fast River and several tunnels thereunder 
has had the effect of giving to residents on 
the south side of "the great terminal moraine" 
easy access to the heart of Manhattan. These 
activities in suburban property have developed 
a new class of energetic men who talk well and 
carry conviction because they believe what 
they say. Among men who have galvanized 
into activity this new market is T. Benton 
Ackerson, born at Rockland Lake, this state. 
June. 1856. He was educated at Pough- 
keepsie and began commercial life in Brooklyn, 
1S74. as an employee of the Knickerbocker 
Ice Company. He enjoyed the tutorship of 
his father, a successful business man; but 
his leanings were toward the real estate held. 
In thirty-odd years he has prosecuted ex- 
tensive operations in Long Island City. Flat- 
bush and more recently at Brightwaters, near 
Ray Shore a beautiful sea. lake, pine and 
oak grown residential park of over 1,200 
acres. A pace setter in seaside suburban 
development. The harbor features incor- 
porated are a most unique and ingenious 
conception and the five spring-fed lakes, 
connected by cascade dams and esplanade 
of fountains, encircled by winding drives, 
have all combined in creating a substantial 
example of the higher standard of develop- 
ment, since copied by mam other developers. 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 



Ml 



Brightwaters is a veritable home community, 
the T. 15. Ackerson Co., in which all Mr. 
Ackerson's enterprises have recently been 
combined, being the first to establish its own 
interurban transportation system. 

The development of the suburban town of 
Nutley, across the Hudson, is due largely to 
the energy and success as an architect of 
William A. Lambert, a young Englishman 
who came to this country with his parents in 
1871, settled in New Jersey and secured his 
education at the public schools of that state. 
Alter a thorough technical training, he began 
his career as an architect in 1892. In addi- 



comes with the prestige of success in that line 
at Auburn, Rochester and Syracuse, in cadi 
of which cities he developed large section-, ol 
realty. Mr. Tuxill was horn at Clarkson, 
Monroe County, N. Y.. May, 1 S7 7 . and -pent 
his early days on the farm of his father. After 
an education in the district school, he went 
to Auburn, "loveliest city of the plain," 
1900, to accept a place in one of the local 

real estate offices. lie was a "hllsller" from 

the first and l>\ 1907 had so widely inspired 
confidence thai he had no difficulty in or- 
ganizing the Tuxill Realty Company, with a 
$300,000 capitalization, the stock of which 




I BENTi IN ACKERSON 



WILLIAM A. LAMBERT 



ril VRLES I fUXILl 



tion to his collegiate studies, he had served 
with William Ilalsey Wood, of Newark, one 
of the most successful men in his profession. 
Mr. Lambert has made a specialty of suburban 
architectural work, having designed and con- 
structed about one thousand residences of 
that character. Among his chief successes 
elsewhere may he mentioned the Edgemere 
(dub Hotel and the Colonial Hall, at Arvcrne, 
L. I. At present he confines himself to 
architectural work in Nutley, being President 
of the Nutley Realty Company. He has de- 
signed and built .)<•() houses in Nutley. He 
is President of the New York and New Jersey 
Real Estate Exchange, a Mason, a member 
of the Royal Arcanum, and of many societies 
and clubs. 

A newcomer in the Held of Long Island real 
estate promotion is Charles E. Tuxill, who 



was subscribed by some of Auburn's most 
prominent citizens. With this increased capi- 
tal. Mr. Tuxill pushed his activities into other 
eil ies of Central New York. Hacked by friends 
who had realized large profits from his up- 
state enterprises, he recently came to New 
York and purchased a large tract of 
Long Island, known as "Beacon llil 
he is now developing. 

An exceptionally successful young 
of the real estate fraternity is Albert B. Ash- 
forth, horn in this city, 1873. Educated at 
private schools, he entered his uncle's real 
estate office in 1890. The fact that his father 
had achieved success in the same business 

may have been a determining factor in his 
choice. In 1896 he formed an independent 
partnership with Harvey II. Duryee which 
lasted until 1901. Since' that time' Mr. Ash- 



land on 
." which 

member 



428 



THE HOOK of NEW YORK 




ALBERT B. ASHFORTH 



\ \ I II Will, .1 HKSS 



ROBERT W. HAFF 



forth has conducted his business under his 
own name. Upon the outbreak of the Span- 
ish War. Harvey Duryee and Mr. Ash- 
forth conceived the idea and made the sug- 
gestion to Colonel Astor which resulted in the 
formation of the Astor Battery by that patriot. 
Mr. Ashforth served eight years as a member 
of Company 1, Seventh Regiment, X. G. S. 
X. Y. 

Germany furnished another active member 
of the real estate guild in this city in the per- 
son of Nathaniel J. Hess, who was horn at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, September, 
1871. This was after the creation of the drv 
man Empire and the transfer of the Imperial 
Capital to Berlin. Mr. Hess came to this 
country early in life, with his parents. He 
began a mercantile career in his sixteenth year; 
hut. at li). he joined the firm of M. & L. Hess, 
organized for the purpose of conducting a 
general real estate and brokerage business. 
Since then he has been connected with the 
Realty Holding Company, the Hess Building 
Company, the Empire Realty Corporation, the 
Pacific Realty Company, the Thirty-second 
Street Building Company, and several other 
associations. Mr. Hess is closely identified 
with many of the allied charities. For pastime 
he is fond of breaking horses for the Horse 
Shows. He is also an enthusiastic hunter and 
disciple of l/.aak Walton. lb- is a member 
of the Fulton Riding Club, Lotos Club, City 



and 



Lunch Club, American Kennel Club, Lon 
Island Kennel Club, Bull Dog Club 
others. 

A successful real estate broker, actively 
engaged since 1884 in the development of Man- 
hattan and Long Island property, is Robert W. 
Ilaff. The principal office of his company. 
••The Robert W. Ilaff Realty Corporation." 
is in the Marbridge Building. Manhattan, 
incorporated in 1908 with Mr. Ilaff as presi- 
dent. One of his most recent transactions, as 
representative of the Degnon Realty and Ter- 
minal Improvement Company and other capi- 
talists, was the purchase of several hundred 
acres of meadow land between Flushing and 
Corona, Queens County, bordering on Flush- 
ing Bay and River. This large area is now 
being filled with city ashes. Five years will 
he required to reclaim this land, hut when 
the work is completed the land will be suitable 
for manufacturing plants, because it possesses 
both rail and water facilities. The business 
of the Robert W. Ilaff Realty Corporation 
extends over the United States and Mexico. 
Mr. Half has recently returned from a three 
months' trip to Europe in the interests of Xew 
York clients. 

Training in a bank is an admirable prepara- 
tion for almost any commercial business. 
Douglas Ludlow Elliman, now a successful 
real estate broker, began his career as a 
"runner" with the Union National Bank and 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



1.29 



then went tt> Vermilye & Co., where he re- 
mained three years, lie entered the office of 
Pease <S: Elliman, real estate brokers, and 
became a partner in 1!)07. Mr. Elliman was 
born at Flushing, L. I.. May, lss-2. and was 
educated at the Berkeley and Cutler Schools. 
In eight years of brokerage expei'ience, lie 
••closed" nearly $7,000,000 of sales, including 
private houses, plots for apartments and one 
church. He also built up a collection busi- 
ness of about $1,000. (100 annually, including 
a majority of the besl East Side apartments, 
lie is president of the Douglas L. Elliman 
Company, and a director of the Bleecker Street 
& Fulton Ferry Railroad Co. He is a Re- 
publican; his clubs are the Racquel and 
Tennis, St. Nicholas, Sea\vanhaka-( drinthian, 
Stamford Yacht and Wee Burn Golf. 

The development of Westchester property, 
especially at White Plains and its vicinity, is 
largely due to the energy of E. Nelson Ehrhart, 
who early saw an opportunity for its exploita- 
tion and gave himself resolutely to the work. 
Mr. Ehrhart was born in New York City, 
December, 1N7.S. prepared for college in the 
public schools, entered Columbia and took a 
special course in architecture there and agricul- 
ture at ( 'ornell University. After ten years' ex- 
perience in dairy farming, lie adopted his pres- 
ent occupation. He was successful from the 
first. Mr. Ehrhart was acting superintendent 
of the Horse Department of the World's Fair, 
at Chicago, in 1N!>;>. while a student at Cor- 



nell Agricultural College, and was named as 
a special expert of the Dairy Division of the 
Agricultural Department of the United Slates 
in IS!)."). He conies of a n old German family, 
his father having settled in Michigan as a mis 
sionary among the Indians. Mr. Ehrharl 
is a Republican ami a member of the Repub- 
lican and Transportation chilis. 7th Regiment 
Veterans' Association and other societies. 

Some men are naturally inclined to enter the 
real estate business and others have the duty 
of developing ancestral tracts of land thrust 
upon them. Such was the case with William 
Richmond Ware, who undertook the exploit- 
ing of a large property belonging to the estate 
of E. R. Ware, deceased, in the city of Yon 
kers. Mr. Ware was born on the hanks of the 
Hudson. February, 1855, and was educated 
in the private schools of this city and Yonkers. 
Early in life he was charged with the care of 
large real estate interests belonging to his 
father's family and developed special aptitude 
for economical managemenl and disposition 
of many kinds of property. He won general 
confidence by his dealings and gathered around 
him many patrons. He began in New York 
City, lsso. with Leonard .1. Carpenter, first 
trading in Easl Side properties: but, eleven 
years later, he opened an office on the upper 
West Side, where he has prospered. 

A direct descendant of (apt. Dolson.an 
early settler of New Amsterdam, is William 
Hamilton Dolson, now a prominent real estate 




DOUGL VS I- ELLIMAN 



\i LSON i m:ii \i: I 



Willi Wl l; \\ \l:l 



130 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 




LOUIS i II HI' 



\ VRi IN R Alii \i IWITZ 



J. ARTHUR FISCH] B 



agent in this city. Among many important 
properties under his management is that of 
the "Belnord," the largest residential apart- 
ment building in the world, its court, with 
walks and fountains and Mower beds, covering 
more area than the ground space devoted to 
most other properties of its kind. A remark- 
able feature of this building is that every wall 
has an ornamental front and every room is an 
outside one. therefore the "Belnord" is, ad- 
mittedly, a standard for architects and is 
likely to remain so, because there is not at 
present any vacant property in the developed 
section of Manhattan Island of sufficient size 
to erect another building of the kind. Mr. 
Dolson is a member of the Holland Society and 
also of the Sons of the American Revolution, 
Capt. Dolson. aforesaid mentioned, in l(!(i? 
built the first large vessel put upon the stocks 
in these waters. He was also active in New 
Amsterdam real estate, and with his son-in- 
law, Jan Kiersen, opened up the Great Maize 
Land, not far below Fort Washington. Kier- 
sen's house was the hist settlement on the now 
well-known Jumel homestead, and further- 
more is believed to be the first spot permanent- 
ly occupied on these heights. 

Capt. Dolson's son. Teunis, is credited as 
being the first male child born in New Amster- 
dam after it was ceded by the Dutch to the 
English -being, therefore, the original native 



citizen of the English ruled and named City of 
Xew York. His branch of the family moved 
up state and founded the town of Dolson. 

Every owner of rentable property under- 
stands the desirability of having a competent 
and watchful agent to collect his rents anil 
see that the character of his houses is main- 
tained. Many excellent buildings, with ad- 
vantageous sites, have been allowed to de- 
teriorate owing to inattentive owners or 
negligent agents. Aaron Rabinowitz belongs 
to the ever- watchful class of agent who makes 
his principal's interests his own. He was born 
in this city and derived his education from 
the public schools and the University of the 
City of New York. Through the advice of 
Henry Morganthau, one of the leading realty 
owners and operators of this city, he entered 
the real estate business in 1903. Though 
only twenty-seven years of age he became 
president of the long-established firm of Spear 
& ('o., real estate agents, in MM).), a house 
that represents more than $10. 000, 00(1 in 
tenant property, mainly in the commercial 
center of the metropolis. 

J. Arthur Fischer is another prominent real 
estate dealer of the mid-town section, who has 
met with success as agent, broker and ap- 
praiser of some of the best property in the city 
during the ten years which he has devoted to 
building up his business. 



THE HOOK of NEW VOlik 



131 




CHARLES II. PATRICK 



111 INK E. SMI I II 



LAW i; I : N i I . B I I.I.1M W 



After retiring from a life of business activ- 
ity. Charles II. Patrick was induced to take 
the presidency and Ereasurership of the Easl 
Hay Land and Improvement Company and 
lias demonstrated his ability along executive 
lines by a wise and successful handling of the 
company's interests. Mr. Patrick was born 
in Bennington. Vermont, and started in life 
in a country store. He came to New York 
in 1860 and was connected with the II. V\ . 
Johns Mfg. Co., for thirty-seven years. The 
property he is now- interested in is located 
upon the East River or Sound and extends 
from Oak Point to the Bronx River. If has 
an excellent water front, is easy of access 
and is particularly adapted lo residences and 
for manufacturing and shipping purposes. 
Paige interests are already located on the 
tract, and are unrestricted by the encroach- 
ments of adjoining property, while the rail 
and water facilities are unexcelled. 

Closely associated with the buying and sell- 
ing of real estate, in late years, has developed 
the placing of loans for the construction ot 
lame city structures or development of sub- 
urban real estate. In this particular line 
Prank E. Smith has created a place for himself. 
He was born in Candia, X. II.. and enjoyed 
the benefits of the local schools. He began 
life with his father, who was a mason-builder 
in Manchester. Thence he went to Chicago, 
where he worked as a builder for two years. 



lie came to New York in 1X7!). and continued 
in the same trade until 1896. Since then 
Mr. Smith has been a promoter and real estate 
broker. One of his large deals was the sale 
of the Delaware & Hudson property on 
Church and Cortland! Streets to the City In- 
vestment Company, and the negotiation of a 
loan for the latter corporation of $6,250,000. 
He also figured in the sale of the Hotel Vic- 
toria property, a1 27th Street, Broadway and 
5th Avenue, involving $7,000,000, and sold the 
land and furnished the capital to creel the 
Ilendrik Hudson Apartments at I Kith to 
111th Streets and Riverside Drive. He also 
furnished the money lo erect the Chalsworth 
Apartments and Annex at 7-2nd Street and 
Riverside Drive, the Forrest Chambers al 
1 l.'Jth Sheet and Broadway and the Adamston 
and Evanston Apartments. These five n >go- 
tiations represented an outlay of $4,000,000. 
He also negotiated the sale of the German- 
American Building. 35 Nassau Street, in 
which the consideration was large. 

One of the most prominent and best-posted 
real estate men in New York City is Law- 
rence B. Elliman of Pease & Elliman. He 
was born al Flushing, P. P. and was edu- 
cated at the Flushing Institute, Flushing High 
School and the Berkeley School. New York 
City, from which he graduated in 1893, and 
commenced his active business career in Wall 
Street with the linn of Bultrick & Elliman. 



132 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



From here he went to the Bacteriological 
Division of the New York Board of Health, 
and in 1897 formed a connection with the 
firm of 1VII & Graves, where lit' remained 
until lit' organized the real estate firm of 
Pease & Elliman. The business was successful 
from its inceptionand was incorporated in \ { MH. 
It has increased from the zero mark in IS!)? 
to an annual gross turn over of $25,000,000. 
The linn lias sold many of the most prominent 
dwellings in the Fifth Avenue district, includ- 
ing Andrew Carnegie's former residence to 
\V. P. Clyde; the W. II. Bliss house to Mrs. 
Moulton; a house to J. I). Rockefeller, Jr., 
and many other notable homes to prominent 
individuals. 

Mr. Elliman is descended from the Dutch 
and Quakers of Long Island. One of his 
ancestors was an original settler and founder 
of Flushing, and another was one of the 
early mayors of New York City. He 
served live years in the Naval Militia and is a 
member of the Racquet and Tennis. Rocka- 
way Hunt. New York Yacht and Cedarhurst 
Yacht clubs; the St. Nicholas Society. Society 
of Colonial Wars and the New York Historical. 
Genealogical and Biographical Society of 
New York City. His business connections 
are president, treasurer and director of Pease 
& Elliman. Inc., vice-president, treasurer and 
director of Pease & Elliman Agency, treas- 
urer and director of the Woman's Hotel Com- 
pany and director of the City of New York 
Insurance Company, and the Allied Heal 
Estate Interests. 

Indication of the growth of our wonderful 
metropolis is the success that has attended 
I he organization and efficient management 
of several corporations organized for the de- 
velopment of city and suburban real estate. 
The New York Central Realty Company 
was incorporated in 1903, with a paid-up 
capital of $200,000. Their policy has been 
lo purchase property along the lanes of the 
city's growth, and as it was improved to cut 
it into lots and market it. With its large re- 
sources, the possibilities of this company are 
limitless. This fact has led to the organiza- 
tion of a bond department, which, in effect, 
bids for the use of money in the real estate 
business at legal interest. The New York 



Central Realty Company is not in any sense 
a bond company, that department being in- 
cidental to its real estate interests. The 
.successful development of acreage property 
on Long Island has been remarkable. This 
company bought one hundred acres at $800 
an acre five years ago. Three years later. 
adjacent property sold for $2,850 an acre. 
Owdng to the fact that the Central Realty 
Company had cut its land into villa plots, a 
much higher price was realized. I merely 
cite this instance as one of many successful 
enterprises. The company's operations in New- 
Jersey and Westchester County, N. Y., are 
equally extensive. 

The theory of heredity may possibly account 
for the fact that Charles Shonsrood is a very 



•apaUe auctioneer. 



























< 


1 "* * 







A son of Joseph Shon- 
good, who for main 
years followed thai 
honorable and ancient 
profession in the city of 
New ^ ork. ( 'harles was 
born there on May 1, 
1864. Educated in the 
public schools, he em- 
barked in the vocation 
of his paternal ancestor 
and distinguished him- 
self. Charles Shongood 
is the first U. S. auc- 
tioneer appointed by 
the Federal Court un- 
der the Bankruptcy 
Law. He was a presi- 
dential elector in the year of Roosevelt's 
famous victory and ran for Congress in 1904, 
but was defeated. He is a member of the 
Republican and Progress clubs, taking an 
active interest in polities. 

There is no more successful dealer in North 
Sitle real estate than John A. Steinmetx. who 
within the short period of seven years has 
acquired a knowledge of realty values in the 
Bronx that has made him a leader in his line. 
He was born in West Farms. January 11. 
1875, obtaining his education in the public 
schools in that locality and was a baker until 
twenty-four years of age, when he went into 
the wholesale Hour business. The purchase 



CHAR] I - SHONGOOD 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



133 



of a single lot when lie was twenty-one years 
of age turned his attention to the growing 
possibilities of the Bronx and when thirty 
years of age lie decided to quil mercantile 
pursuits and go into the real estate and insur- 
ance business. Since that time he has been 
very successful and his office at No. 1009 
East INOth Street is a place of great activity. 
A majority of the large apartmenl houses in 
this section has Keen sold through his efforts 
ami he completed the negotiations by which 
the large hotel and hall immediately opposite 
the terminal of the West Farms subway line 
was erected. In addition he has conducted 
many exchanges and has a large clientele in 
renting and insurance. 

Mr. Steinmetz is president of the Eas1 
Tremont Taxpayers' Association and is con- 
nected with tin- 1,. W. Divine Company, the 
Jacob Jensen Company, and the Obark 
Realty Company, all engaged in building 
operations. He is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and several societies. 

Having left home in Alsace when he was 
fourteen years old and winked in Paris five 
years, Henry Moses Weill directed his course 
toward America. Mr. Weill readied this city 
when twenty years old. His first occupation 
was translator to the physician-in-chief of the 
Equitable Life Assurance Company. This 
work was not calculated to hold a man of Mr. 
Weill's energy and progressiveness ; nothing 



would satisfy him hut his own desk. Opening 
an ofliee in West Twenty-eighth Street, success 
soon came to him. After leasing stores and 
lolls in the neighborhood he succeeded in secur- 
ing a loan of $450,000 for the Bijou Theatre. 
After placing this loan, his progress was 
rapid, until at the age of 33 he is recognized 
by the entire real estate Fraternity. Besides 
being the president of the II. M. Weill Com 
pany, he is a director of the Coleman Con- 
struction Company and treasurer of the One 
Hundred and Thirty West 37th Street Com 
pany. He is also a member of the Democratic 
Club, West Side Real Estate Association and 
Allied Real Estate Interests. 

After thorough training as ;i merchant, a 
Wall Street broker and a banker. Benjamin 
Rush Lummis finally undertook the manage- 
ment of estates and has made himself one of 
the authorities in this city on the appraised 
values of real properly. He was horn in New 
York, July, 1857, and received a thorough 
education at St. Francis Xavier's and Scion 
Hall Colleges. He began active business, in 
1877, as shipping clerk in a wholesale house 
thai did a business of $3,000,000 a year. His 
father had been a i\\\ goods importer, but 
family reverses during the Civil War caused 
the young man to go to work early in life. 
Next I hear of him in Wall Street, in the firm 
of Lummis & Day the brokerage business 
of an elder brother. After weathering several 
panics. Mr. Lummis engaged in the real 




.lnIIN \ STEINMETZ 



HENRY M WEILL 



I'.l VI W1IN l: I LMM1S 



134 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



estate Held, which he has followed ever since. 
He is strong in Revolutionary ancestry and a 
member of the Sons; is ;i member of the 
Society of Colonial Wars, is on the advisory 
board of the New York Foundling Hospital 
and the Seton Hospital for Consumptives, a 
trustee of the Catholic Institute for the Blind. 
a member of the New York Athletic club 
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Judging from what he has done and is do- 
ing, it is but fair to assume that among the 
names of the" civil engineers of to-day that will 

he long remembered is 
a Bayly Hipkins, who is 
in the front rank of that 
most important branch 
of modern engineering 
— subway const rnct ion. 
Mr. Hipkins was 
horn in Baltimore. July 
27, 1871. After grad"- 
natioii from the City 
College of Baltimore 
and Lehigh University, 
he became the resident 
engineer of the Tybee 
Railroad of ( reorgia : 
roadmaster of the ( en- 
tral of Georgia and the 
Railroad. Comim 




H n L"5 HIPKINS 



Georgia and Alabama 
New York in 1899 he 



became the ( 



Hie 



to 
En- 



gineer of the Bradley Construction Company, 
which has the contract for building the new 
Brooklyn and Lexington Avenue subway. 
aggregating an outlay of $50,000,000. This 
contract was secured in the face of the most 
aggressive competition with powerful rival 
companies upon figures prepared by Mi-. 
Hipkins, so complete in the details that 
older and more experienced masters were 
defeated. 

Identified with the real estate business for 
the past 20 years, it is natural that Charles W. 
Mix should acquire an experience that makes 
him a leader in the realty world. He was 
born in Camden, Oneida, County, X. Y.. 
July 29, 1868, of New England ancestry, and 
was educated in Syracuse. X. Y. Before 
attaining his majority he embarked in the 
real estate business in Syracuse, that line of 
endeavor appealing to him as the one for which 



he was best fitted. He was successful and 
in 1902 removed to New York City, where he 
concluded the field was broader and fuller of 




opportunities. He formed a connection with 
the Frank L. Fisher Company, an organiza- 
tion that has been successful for twenty-five 
years, and eventually he and William II. 
Beckham became sole stockholders of the 
company, Mr. Beckham being president and 
Mr. Mix filling the positions of secretary and 
treasurer. The company is recognized as en- 
tirely responsible in the real estate busi- 
ness. It handles no property in a speculative 
way. but has a large clientele of wealthy 
patrons who are always looking for permanent 
investments in paying business properties 
and apartment houses and it is to this class of 
business alone thai the Frank L. Fisher Com- 
pany devotes its energies. The long expe- 
rience of both Mr. Mix and Mr. Beckham 
along these lines has given them a complete 
knowledge of realty values in all sections 
of the city and their advice to investors 
is always valuable, their judgment being 
affirmed by clients whom they have served 
for years. 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



ISi 



Out on Fire Island, where health and happi- 
ness go hand in hand and where the summer 
breezes are always ten degrees cooler than in 
New York City, lies Ocean Beach, one of the 
ideal spots in that beautiful territory of pic- 
turesque resorts. Ocean Beach differs ma- 
terially from nearly every town on the coast 
from the fact that there one can get back to 
nature without the handicap of modern society 
trammels. 'There art- no social functions to be 
observed and no catering to fashion's usages 
— everything tends to the simple life and 
unalloyed enjoyment and happiness holds full 
sway. It is an ideal spot and is the creation 
of John A. Wilbur, who. in 1908, conceived 
the idea of locating a high-class family sea- 
shore summer colony on Fire Island, which 
to his mind filled every requirement. He 
christened the spot Ocean Beach and at once 
started to develop it. That his judgment was 
correct is proved by the fact that since that 
time eighty-five bungalows and cottages have 
been erected by lot owners, while between 
25 and 50 more have been contracted for, and 
during this period of development 700 lots 
have been sold. A pier extends into the bay 
and right at the landing a modern hotel, 
partly of concrete, and a dancing pavilion of 
ornate design have been erected. The beach 
is undulating and in many respects superior 
to Atlantic City and all the surroundings are 
conducive to health and water sports. Two 
steamers convey passengers to and from 
Bay Shore, another to Islip and one to Pat- 
chogue. 

No suburban retreat lying contiguous to 
New York City presents the attractions and 
natural advantages that can be found there. 
This ideal spot has pure water, surf bathing, 
still water bathing, boating, fishing, shooting 
and cool, refreshing ocean breezes. Here 
the blue fishing grounds are in front of every 
cottage door, and duck and snipe shooting 
are the best on the Atlantic coast. You can 
tread your own clams and have your own 
clam bake or indulge in a shore dinner al 
trifling expense. Mr. Wilbur, who conceived 
and developed this unique resort and who is 
president of the Ocean Beach Development 
Company, commenced his career as a mes- 
senger boy, afterwards becoming a tel- 



egraph operator on the Manhattan Elevated 
Railroad. He used his leisure time in study- 
ing and after saving some money became in- 
terested in a manufacturing business which 
he disposed of to starl the development of 




JOHN A WILBUR 

Ocean Beach. He has always been a student 
and is an able writer on trade subjects, real 
estate development and political economy, 
contributing many articles on these subjects 
to the leading trade journals. He is a friend 
of labor and from the beginning of his career, 
has been bitterly opposed to over-capitalized, 
wafer-soaked, swindling trusts, believing that 
the laboring man should receive better wages 
and thereby be permitted to enjoy a more 
liberal share of the profits which accrue so 
largely from his efforts. He is prominent 
in Masonic circles, having passed through all 
the intervening degrees of Masonry up to and 
including the thirty-second, lie is Past Mas- 
ter of Bunting Lodge, a member of Sylvan 
Chapter, Constantine Commandery, Mystic 
Shrine and all the Scottish Rite bodies. He is 
an ex-president of the Harlem Board of Com- 
merce and a member of the Harlem Branch 
Y. M. C. A. He was a school commissioner 

in IIXMi and !!)<>'; ami during thai time vigor- 



136 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



ously advocated improvements in the sanita- 
tion of school buildings, particularly the ven- 
tilation and cleanliness of class rooms. He 
also instituted the investigation in the matter 
of second-hand square pianos that had been 
purchased and paid for as new. He is a 
Democrat, and while not active in politics, was 
chosen presidential elector from the Eleventh 
Congressional District during the 1908 cam- 
paign. 

In less than a dozen years in New York 
City, William Henderson. Jr.. as secretary and 
manager of William Henderson. Inc.. has he- 
come a factor in the building trade. He was 

horn in Westchester , V N . 
Y., February 20, 1871, 
and educated in the 




imi t)li'- schools, and 



lus 



\V1 1. 1.1 AM HEND1 RSI IN, Jr 



practical knowledge of 
construction was gain- 
ed with his grandfather 
and father. 'The grand- 
father, James Hender- 
son, had a wood-work- 
ing mill in Westchester, 
and upon his death in 
]SS(i. his son, William, 
succeeded to the busi- 
n ess. In INNS he 
turned his attention to 
the construction of high 
class private residences, and during the four 
years previous to the company coming to New 
York City, many beautiful and costly homes 
and club houses were erected in the territory 
contiguous to Westchester. In all of this 
work. William Henderson, Jr. was an active 
factor. In 1892, New York City was invaded 
and since that time William Henderson, Inc.. 
has played an important part in building con- 
struction here-. At the present time the com- 
pany is erecting a twelve-story loft building at 
.".1st Street and Fourth Avenue and the con- 
struction of modern playhouses is one of its 
specialties. In this connection may he men- 
tioned the Longacre Theatre. 48th Street west 
of Broadway, and the Jackson Avenue Theatre 
al 155th Street and Westchester Avenue. 
Bronx, while the company's hid has been ac- 
cepted on still another, the location of which 



has not as yet been made known. Mr. Hen- 
derson is of Scottish extraction. His ances- 
tors located in Westchester in 1S,'5S and since 
that time they have always taken an important 
part in the development and affairs of that 
section. He is a Democrat in politics and 
was at once time a member of the Assembly 
from Westchester, hut since coming to New 
York City his activities have been diverted 
from politics to the upbuilding of a large and 
successful business. 




\\ II.I.IAM I BR( IWN 

Knowing every property and every foot of 
vacant land in the Borough of the Bronx, by 
reason of a residence of 45 years, and with a 
mind stored by twenty-six years of experience 
in realty transactions, it was but natural that 
the services of William I. Brown should be 
sought whenever condemnation proceedings 
were instituted in that section. He is presi- 
dent of W. E. and W. I. Brown. Inc., a busi- 
ness started by his father. Robert I. Brown, 
in lS(i?, and in the nearly half-century of the 
linn's existence, sterling integrity and abso- 
lute devotion to its clients' interests, have been 
the watch words. Mr. Brown's specialty is 
expert appraising and in this connection he 
has been retained by the eitv, state and attor- 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



[:',: 



neys for owners in thousands of cases. For 
loaning institutions and attorneys of estates, 
lie lias appraised over 2200 parcels of real 
estate and in the suits ensuing from the con- 
struction of the subway, he testified as an 
expert for the city in over .'i.jO eases. lie 
proved that prior to the subway's construc- 
tion, the value of the property along the 
route was about $4,000,000 and three years 
after construction was commenced, the same 
property was worth $9,000,000. This show- 
ing saved the city a large amount of money in 
claimed damages. In street opening proceed- 
ings he has appeared in over !>()(> cases and 
in the suits brought against the city by reason 
of the change of grade made necessary l>\ 
the depression of the Harlem Railroad tracks. 
from Mott Haven to Williamsbridge, lie ap- 
peared as expert for the property owners in 
935 cases. The company of which Mr. 
Brown is president, has figured in many of 
the most important transfers of property in 
the Bronx, being the agent for many of the 
old estates, such as the Rogers, Morris, de 
Peyster and Zbrowski families. A complete 
record of all conveyances, mortgages, leases, 
building plans and alterations of each piece 
of property in the Borough is kept, and there- 
fore Mr. Brown can tell, without a moment's 
hesitation, all the facts concerning any piece 
of property, therein making his opinion as an 
expert appraiser, reliable, and his testimony 
of forceful effect. 

That success in handling New York realty 
docs not entirely depend upon a trained 
knowledge of the business, is proven by the 
remarkable achievements of Julian Benedict, 
who, within a period of eleven years, has en- 
gineered real estate sales involving nearly 
twenty millions of dollars. Of course, he 
has acquired (hiring that time an experience 
which makes him an authority on values, but 
the story of his early struggles and final success 
reads like a romance. lie was born in Rou- 
niania in IST.'i. and graduated from the acad- 
emy in his native city with the highest honors. 
He took a special course in mathematics and 
became an accountant, but finding the pros- 
pects for a successful career were very remote 
in Roninania. he came to New York in 1SSS. 



Here he became successfully identified with 
bicycle interests and the cloak and suit busi- 
ness. While engaged in the latter he decided 
that the land of his adoption offered better 
chances than were possible in mercantile lines 




.in.i \'. mi \i:i)i<T 

and he decided to become a real estate agent. 
He had not the slightest idea of how to nego- 
tiate a sale or to execute a lease, but this lack 
of knowledge did not deter him. He secured 
an office on March 30, 1901, and began 
hustling for clients. Naturally a period of 
weary waiting followed. Although discour- 
aged he held on and his patience was re- 
warded l>v a rare piece of luck. This was the 
sale of the little building at the northwest 
corner of Broadway ami 34th Street, and the 
sale brought him al once into prominence, 



138 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



For the price. $375,000 was a record one and 
all the papers credited him with being a 
shrewd realty salesman. Naturally owners of 
property who were looking for the highest 
possible terms hunted him up. and since that 
time he has been very successful. He has 
been the pioneer in long leases in the mid- 
section of the city and has established a rec- 
ord of getting the highest possible price for 
business properties. One of the deals which 
Mr. Benedict conducted is of a unique char- 
acter and established a long-lease record on 
Fifth Avenue. It was the sale of the property, 
\os. 556 and 558 Fifth Avenue for M. Knoed- 
ler & Co.. to Daniel A. Loring, president of 
the .Etna Real Estate & Loan Co.. and the 
subsequent leasing of the land to the original 
owner for a period of eighty-four years. This 
negotiation involved the sum of $5,000,000 
and was entirely consummated within a period 
of fifteen days. After this sale and lease 
were executed. Mi'. Loring wrote to Mr. 
Benedict the following letter: 

"I wish to thank you for the prompt and 
businesslike manner in which you negotiated 
the exchange of my Central Park West and 
i)lst Street lots with Mr. Ronald II. Mac- 
donald for the property, No. 29 West 34th 
Street. I also feel quite enthusiastic and very 
well pleased with the negotiations made by 
you with Messrs. Knoedler & Co. for the 
property. Nos. 556 and 558 Fifth Avenue. 
both transactions being very satisfactory to 
me." 

( Concerning the same transaction. M . Knoed- 
ler & Co. wrote as follows: 

"We take great pleasure in complimenting 
you on the quick and thoroughly satisfactory 
manner in which you carried out the sale of 
.">.")<) and 558 Fifth Avenue to Mr. I). A. Lor- 
ing, and the re-leasing of same to us for his 
account. \\ e hope that we may have further 
transactions with you." 

Another record established by Mr. Benedict 
was the leasing of the building, No. 1!) West 
34th Street to Revillon Frercs. for a period of 
twenty-one years, the first long lease recorded 
up to that time on that street. lie also sold 
the Henry Clews resilience for $750,000 and 
his record for big sales and long leases has 
caught the attention of the realty world. 



There have been many instances where success 
has been achieved in the real estate business, 
but it has usually been by men carefully trained 
in that line. Mr. Benedict was almost a 
stranger in this country, had no knowledge of 
the business, which fact makes his success a 
noticeable one. 

Forsaking mercantile pursuits on account 
of illness. Harry White entered the real estate 
business with no previous knowledge, and 
has figured extensively in the development of 
northside realty. He located eight years ago 
at lSlst Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, 
when that territory, known as Washington 
Heights, had a combined assessed value of 
about $2,000,000. He had selected the sec- 
tion as offering unexcelled chances in the line 
he adopted and had but a short time to wait 
until his judgment was verified by the north- 
ward trend of the residential and business 
section, until to-day the value of the property 
in the territory has increased to nearly $200,- 
000. (KM), and in this appreciation he has built 
up a huge business. Mr. White was born in 
New York City in 1N70. and educated in the 
public schools. He is a member of the Elks 
and is affiliated with the Democratic party. 
In this connection it might be mentioned that 
he has refused several tenders of Assembly 
nominations. 

Andrew S. Brownell is President of the 
New York Realty Owners, organized in the 
year 1SSS. the first company which took up 
the business of co-operative accumulative in- 
vestments in real estate. 

Associated with Mr. Brownell are many in- 
vestors who believe that New York real estate 
is the most stable and profitable commodity 
in which to place money for income produc- 
tion and increase in principal. They know 
that for generations great fortunes have been 
acquired from investments in real estate, and 
the success of this company shows that the 
same results can be realized for the small in- 
vestor, by co-operative activity, honestly and 
intelligently controlled and along lines that 
produce profits for all stockholders equally. 

Mr. Brownell and his associates have ac- 
quired for the New York Realty Owners dur- 
ing its sixteen years of business, extensive 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



139 



properties in the line of New York City's 
growth northward that arc now valued at 
over $3,000,000, and that are destined to In- 
developed into commercial centres in the near 
future. Enhancement in the values and in 
the income production of these properties, 
great as they have been, will undoubtedly be 
far in excess of anything now foreseen. 



Street names honoring prominent English- 
men are not as numerous as those of Dutch 
origin. Most of those thai remain have no 
affiliation with royalty, those reminders of 
British rule having been carefully expunged 
after the Revolution. Thai is why we have 
Liberty Street instead of ( Town, ( 'edar instead 
of Queen, and Pine instead of King, the pre- 
Revolutionary designations of royalty being 
regarded as out of place with the patriotic sen- 
timents of the new Republic. A portion of 
Broadway above City Hall bore the resounding 
term of King George Street, and. of course, 
that passed away early. 

Chatham Street, now only remaining in 
Chatham Square, but originally all of Park 
Row. was not molested for some time. It 
honored the great William Pitt, Karl of 
Chatham, for his friendly attitude toward the 
colonies during the Stamp-Acl troubles. A 
marble statue of the Karl was subscribed for 
and erected in Wall Street, near William, on 
September ?. 1770. the inscription stating that 
it was a " public testimony of the grateful sense 
the Colony of New York retains of the many 
eminent services he rendered America, par- 
ticularly in promoting the repeal of the Stamp 
Act." This statue was overturned and broken 
by the British soldiers when they entered New 
York in retaliation for the destruction of the 
leaden statue of King George on Bowling 
Green, but the torso still remains among the 
relics in the New York Historical Society. 



One of the leading linns forming part of 
New York's huge commissary department, is 
that of John Xix & Co.. commission merchants 
at Xo. 281 Washington Street. 

The business was founded in IS.".!) and was 
incorporated in 1904 with John W. Xix. a 
son of the founder, as president. Associated 



with him in the company are George \\ . Nix. 
Frank VV. Nix and Robert VV. Nix, the com- 
bination being known as the "big four" of 
the produce trade. 

For seventy-three years the house lias 
handled fruits and produce, principally from 
Southern points, in carload lots and less, and 
by conscientious dealing and careful examina- 
tion of shipments before delivery, has built up 
a reputation for reliability. Short shipments 
and prompt delivery to consumers is a rule of 
the house, while quick returns have made the 
linn popular with consignors. 

"If it's from Xix it's bound to be right" is 
one of I he mottoes of John Xix & Co., and the 
reputation made in every quarter proves that 
the linn has observed this rule to the letter. 



Nassau is about the only -tied survivor 
bearing a name of royal lineage, both being in 
honor of the Prince of Nassau, who afterward 
shared the honors of King of England with his 
wife. Queen Mary. The lower pari of Chat- 
ham St reel lost its name early in the last ceiitun 
in view of its location opposite the park, and 
Park Row was eventually continued up to its 
junction with the Bowery. William Street i- 
due to William Beekman, through whose farm 
it ran. Nassau Street, like Maiden Kane, 
which has just attained high fame in being 
the tirst street ill New York to have a tablet 
erected in its memory, once had a name ol 
more local significance. It was known two 
centuries or more ago as the "road that leads 
bv the pie woman'-." Evidently this un- 
known woman hail touched the heart through 
the stomach of many of her neighbors to lend 
such distinction to the thoroughfare by her 
humble bake shop. The popularity of pic 
still lingers in Ann Street, hard by. 

Wall Street gets its name from the line ol 
palisades which the Dutch erected in 1656 as 
a protection againsl their foes, the Indians, 
who had a bad habit of swooping down from 
the wild country to the north and making 
life uneasy for the peace-loving Dutchmen. 
This wall extended across the city from the 
Easl to the North Rivers and had several gates 
from which access could be hail to the pas- 
tures outside the walk. The fortifications 



440 



THE HOOK of XEW YORK 



were never required for actual defense bill 
were kept in repair until the time of Gov. 
Dongan. 

The demolition of the wall, in 1688, left a 
wide street, too wide for necessity it was con- 
sidered, and the eminent English Governor 
who gave New York its famous charter showed 
thai he was alive to the possibilities of land 
speculation. He purchased through a dummy 
land on the north side of the old wall having 
a frontage of 1.(100 feet on the present Wall 
Street eastward from Broadway. When the 
walls came down he added to his property 
about forty feet from the street, thereby in- 
creasing the depth of his lots from an average 
of SO feet to 120 feet. In 1689 he sold most 
of it to Abraham de Peyster and Nicholas 
Bayard, including the entire block between 
Nassau and William Streets on the north side 
now occupied by the Sub-Treasury, the old 
site of the City Hall where Washington was 
inaugurated President, and many banking and 
office buildings. 



Xo architect in Xew York has achieved 
greater success or accomplished more for the 
city's beautification than Albert Buchman, of 
the firm of Buchman & Fox. Born in Cin- 
cinnati. Ohio. June 11. 1859, he graduated 
from Cornell University in 1K79. with a full 
knowledge of architecture, and has since been 
very active in his profession. His work has 
included department stores, office buildings, 
loft buildings and residences. He designed 
the Saks and Bonw it- Teller buildings, the 
office building at .'51st Street and Fifth Avenue 
and has the large office building at 42d Street 
and Madison Avenue in preparation. He 
also designed the Times Annex on 43d Street 
and several hundred residences. Mr. Buch- 
man is a member of the Architectural League, 
the Cornel! University Club and several other 
organizations. 




High in the counsels of the Democratic 
Party, the majority leader on the Moor of the 
Senate during 1910 and 1911, and a decided 

leaning toward reform 
legislation, makes Rob- 
ert F. Wagner a prom- 
inent figure through- 
out the entire state and 
places him directly in 
line for future political 
preferment. lie was 
born in Prussia. Ger- 
many, in 1877 and came 
to this country with his 
parents nine years later. 
I lis education was re- 
ceived in tlu' public 
schools, from which he 
robert i Wagner graduated in 1893; the 
City C o 1 1 eg e from 
which he secured the B.S. degree in 1898, and 
the Xew York Law School, which conferred 
LL.B. upon him in 1900. He was admitted 
to practice the same year. His activity in 
politics secured for him the Assembly nomina- 
tion in 1905. He was elected and served 
continuously in that body until 1908 when he 
was elected to the State Senate. He has been 
unusually active in both legislative bodies. 
In 1907 he was appointed a member of the 
Assembly Commission on ('odes. Public In- 
stitutions and Printed and Engrossed bills, 
and the following year was made a member 
of the Commission on Cities, Public Institu- 
tions and Printed and Engrossed bills. In the 
Senate he has served on the Judiciary and 
Public Education Committee, but his greatest 
activity has been shown as the Democratic 
Moor leader, his commendable course being 
followed by reelection, with increased major- 
ity in 1910. He is a member of the law firm 
of Phillips, Ma honey i\; Wagner; of the Sigma 
Kappa fraternity, the Mozart Verein, Frater- 
nal Order of Eagles, B. P. (). Elks, the Buf- 
faloes. Bar Association of the City of Xew 
York, the Xew York County Lawyers' Asso- 
ciation, and the Arion. Manhattan. City. Al- 
gonquin, Citv College and Hell (late Demo- 
cratic clubs. 



THE book of NEW YORK 



m 



CHAPTER XXXI 



A NATIONAL WAVE OF REFORM 




TIDE of commercial and politi- 
cal reform swept over New- 
York in the Winter of 1905-'06. 
Similar episodes had occurred 
before. We had had the 
Lexow Committee, which had 
"exposed" police corruption 
with a thoroughness that was informative, hut 
that did not work improvement in the morals 
of the force or stop the "blackmailing" of 
saloon-keepers and unfortunate wantons upon 
the streets. The patrolmen were the "cadets" 
of those days; now, a stern law sends to prison 
any man who lives off the shame of a woman. 
Not a single policeman exposed by the Lexow 
Committee of the State Senate was put be- 
hind the bars. A word, "To lexow," was 
added to the language. Next we had the 
Mazet Committee, a reformative body that 
promised much but performed little. 

The Armstrong Committee of l!)()-t, how- 
ever, actually did things. This was solely 
owing to the energy and capacity of Charles 
E. Hughes, a comparatively unknown lawyer. 
who rose from the ashes of that inquiry to a 
far greater height that John W. Goff had risen 
from the scandals of the Lexow investigation. 
To indicate how little Mr. Hughes was known. 
I remember, at the announcement of his selec- 
tion as inquisitor, to have searched every local 
and national "Who's Who" without finding 
the slightest reference to him ! When 1 learned 
he was a "Delta Upsilon" man in college. 1 
was without hope. But he favorably disap- 
pointed everybody and rendered to the Amer- 
ican people much service. The life insur- 
ance investigation left a trail of wrecked char- 
acter that no previous legislative regenerative 
attempt had equalled. At first, the Empire 
State appeared to he the chief sufferers, but 
evidence was soon forthcoming that tentacles 
of corruption extended into other common- 
wealths beside ours. The activity of ;i bos- 



ton broker, Thomas F. Lawson, was expended 
in a New York magazine. He tore masks 
from the "frenzied financiers." He exposed 
what he aptly called "The System," — a policy 
based upon greed of the lowest character, al- 
though fathered by distinguished and repu- 
table bankers, bauson told the truth about 
insurance companies and was largely responsi- 
ble for the general "awakening" that followed. 

A bloodless revolution began. At first, the 
complexions of the state and national legis- 
latures were not materially changed. The 
"interests" that had named Representatives 
and Senators were too strongly entrenched to 
be dislodged by mere popular sentiment. Ex- 
perience with the Democratic party during the 
first Cleveland term had shown its unreliability 
for national reform. The "Trusties" fared 
as well then as subsequently. The problem 
under the Republicans was how to waste the 
nation's money with greatest personal profit. 
Under the dominance of Speaker Reed and 
with the aid of the McKinlev tariff, patriotism 
weighed as lightly as feathers against special 
privileges. National pride hadn't a seat in 
Congress! The American people became 
thoughtful and realized their neglect. The 
cry of "anarchist" no longer affrighted them 
or served as a deterrent to an expression of 
contempt for the characters of most public 
servants. 

The culminating shock in the Life Insur- 
ance scandal was reached in the proof that 
custodians of the widows' mites, meaning 
officers of the companies, had furnished their 
homes with rugs, tallies, chairs and pictures 
at the expense of the policyholders. From the 
same source, they drew their fuel: whenever 
the winter's coal was ordered, a feu tons were 
always sent to the houses of the presidents and 
other high officials. One life insurance head 
had fattened his entire family upon his com- 



442 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



pany. His sons and daughters lived in a 
splendid apartment house on Seventy-second 
Street, owned by the company and paid for by 
the policyholders' money. There they paid 
only a nominal rent. When the exposure 
came, crowds of policyholders stood before 
that house all day. This might have an- 
noyed some people but, in this instance, the 
inmates of the building arrived and departed 
high headed, in automobiles and carriages. 

During the Spring of 1900, the entire coun- 
try was aroused. The American people awak- 
ened to the thousand and one impositions that 
greedy monopolies had inflicted upon them. 
Revolt spread like a prairie fire! The West 
was earliest convinced; Eastern people were 
slower to believe the truth. Strangely, the 
alarum bell had been sounded in England! A 
wage earner, John Burns, had been elected 
to Parliament and then taken into the Camp- 
bell-Bannerman cabinet, a post worth .$10,00(1 
a year. That was greater recognition of the 
toiling masses than had been accorded in this 
country. Fifty other workmen soon found 
seats in the House of Commons. The in- 
dividual citizen of the United States had been 
speaking through the ballot in recent years, 
but nobody heard his voice. The hour had 
come for commercial nabobs in America, as 
elsewhere, to harken! The meaning was un- 
mistakable. 

A far greater proof of the actuality of the 
revolt was shown by the development of ver- 
tebrae among editors of newspapers who had 
previously been spineless! Managers of jour- 
nals not owned by financial interests actually 
came out in defence of popular rights! The 
cry of "socialist" or "anarchist" no longer 
affrighted editors. Any man who declared 
that the chiefs of corporations had reduced the 
accumulation of money to "A System," in 
which they alone shared and into which out- 
siders could not intrude, was no longer "a 
dangerous lunatic." The social revolution 
grew like a ball of snow upon a hillside! The 
proletarians had made studies of their masters! 
A "Servile War" followed, in which the pro- 
fessional classes, except lawyers "retained" 
by the nabobs, joined. After the exposure, a 
shout, started by the workmen, became gen- 
eral: 



"Halt! Bezonians!" 

The christening of the class was apt. Al- 
though a few members of the greedv gang had 
given many millions to education, the selfish- 
ness of the commercial nabob marked him as 
a true bezonian, "a shifty knave," who would 
get money by any confidence game, rather 
than not possess himself thereof! Colgrave 
defined a bezonian as "a base-humored scoun- 
drel." What could better describe the typical 
life insurance "grafter," or the financial bunco- 
steerer ? If not, dictionaries are out of print! 
Men of letters fell into the ranks with the pro- 
letarians: the common fight was made side by 
side. Soiled as the palms of allies' hands may 
have been with the soot of the forge or the 
dye of the loom, they were not defiled by dis- 
honest money or taint of inhumanity to man! 

Many national events recalled the awaken- 
ing of honesty in the City of New York that 
followed the downfall of the Tweed regime. 
Then the chime of the bell-punch was heard 
in the cars, succeeded by the clang of the cash 
register in the shops. Some employees needed 
watching, so a check was placed upon all alike. 
Now. since the awakening, a watch has been 
set upon employers of labor! While a long 
line of Do-Nothing Presidents in the White 
House had reigned, the "Trusties" had been 
sawing wood every minute. Eike busy bees, 
they had "improved each shining hour," — 
if one knows a "shining hour" when he sees it. 

How many of our ninety-odd million citizens 
utilize the growing majesty of public opinion? 
In the days of Andrew Jackson, and later of 
Tweed, contempt for public opinion was 
universal. 

In 190N, I rode from Washington to New 
York on the Congressional Limited, with a 
United States Senator from a state west of 
Ohio. We had known each other twenty-odd 
years. The acquaintance had begun when he 
was a Representative in the House, ambitious 
to go down in history as a pure and a wise 
statesman. But. in the years that succeeded, 
he had grown great only in appearance. A 
hundred opportunities had presented them- 
selves to him, in which he might have courage- 
ously defended the rights of the American 
people against the timber thieves, the beef 
adulterators, the land grabbers, the railroad 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



443 



filchers of the public domain, and in countless 
other ways he might have voiced unspoken 
protest, already ascending to high heaven 
many times daily from every hamlet in this 
land. 

Never a word from him! And yet, he was 
pure as snow. I don't believe he ever made a 
dollar corruptly. But like a sleeping police- 
man, he allowed scoundrels to steal past him 
and do the dirty work that he ought to have 
prevented. 

There were some honest members in the 
Credit Mobilier and the Pacific Mail subsidy 
Congresses, I said to him, with far more feel- 
ing than I am able to reproduce here, when he 
complained about the way in which critics 
had described him. 'Those pure men, who 
prided themselves upon the fact that they 
were not corrupted weren't bought because 
Oakes Ames didn't need them! They were 
reached by other influences. One of Sam 
Ward's good dinners, wherein a Westphalian 
ham. with its whisp of newly cut hay, acted as 
an anesthetic to conscience, sufficed in some 
cases; in others, a trade of votes on a River 
and Harbor appropriation achieved the same 
result. In later days, when shrewd, clever 
men, like Allison or Wolcott, to mention the 
most innocent, were kindly helping vast 
railroad interests in grateful recognition of 
continuance in office, but without other hope 
of financial reward, you were trailing along 
with the bunch. There wasn't a price upon 
your head; but you were serving the vested 
interests quite as faithfully as if you had been 
hired to argue a case for them before the 
Supreme Court. It is a merry happening, 
for your peace of mind, that your conscience 
was under a spell! You must have awakened, 
by this time, to opportunities you overlooked 
to stop countless maraudings of the public? 
Your face is confession." 

"My God! It never came to me in that 
liffht before!" the Senator exclaimed. 

"Are you sure? How could you have been 
blind to the fact that you were a valuable assel 
to the lobbyist who knew how to pull the social 
string that imparted action to your brain.'" 
I added. 

Then this United States Senator put in a 
special plea — a plea in avoidance. 



"Why should I have been on the alert to 
presuppose crime in others?" he demanded. 

'That's the defense of Cain!" I retorted. 
"Didn't he say something of the same kind ? 
'I'm not my brother's keeper," are the words 
put into his mouth, whether he uttered them 
or not. Of course, if you put in the Cain 
defense, the first person who reads your 
alleged explanation will throw your case out 
of ( 'oiirt." 

"Rut, 1 never made a dollar, in Senate or 
House, beyond my salary!" 

"Indeed; for example, you drew your 
mileage, didn't you, at 10 cents a mile, and 
always traveled on a free pass?" 

"Y-e-s, I did. That wasn't honest. I admit; 
but everybody in Congress did it." 

'That's only another version of the Cain 
defense. Because other people robbed the 
treasury, you argue that it was justifiable for 
you to do so. The steal was as petty as that 
of the traveling salesman who charges for a 
carriage ride every time he buys a new shirt. 
To be sure, you never got any corrupt re- 
tainers from corporations when measures 
vitally affecting the popular interests were be- 
fore your committees in House or Senate. 
Why should you ? Lobbyists are imbued with 
a high sense of economy as well as gluttonous 
with covetousness. When they could get 
your vote for nothing, why should they pay 
for it?" 

"Rut. never have I knowingly assisted in 
the passage of a single 'job ' through ( longress," 
my opposite protested. 

"No doubt you think so; but do you re- 
member the River and Harbor bill of last 
Congress? You told me you consented to 
the insertion of two very objectionable items 
in that bill because, by giving a pledge to sup- 
port them in committee and on the Boor, you 
secured a half-million appropriation — I mean 
you made sure of votes enough to extract the 
money from the United States Treasury -for 
a Federal building that your city didn't need 
and that stands upon land owned by close 
friends of yours, which they sold to the govern- 
ment tor three times its value? Don't inter- 
rupt! Of course, you didn't get a dollar of 
that blood money! Rut. you should have 



444 



THE BOOK of NEW YORK 



opposed the despoilment of the American 
people and have let your constituents grumble. 
Herein is the kernel of your trouble. Lust 
of office is, it' possible, dirtier, more degrading, 
than lust for money!" 

Two years later. I was dining with an- 
other United States Senator at the New Wil- 
lard, Washington, when he, my host, suddenly 
switched the conservation to ask: 

"I noticed in your article of to-day a new 
bit of phrasing. You say that the failure of 
the dominant (Republican) party to keep its 
pledges regarding a revision of the tariff will 
be resented by the citizens of the country at the 
next Congressional elections this Fall. Your 
words are. 'This exhibition of indifference to 
the public good cannot continue, now that the 
'bob-cats' in possession of the franchise have 
learned how to scratch their tickets!' Tell 
me. what do you mean by coining a phrase 
of this sort?" 

When the awakened majesty of the inde- 
pendent voter had been brought to his atten- 
tion, the growing demand for primaries that 
serve to indicate the popular choice of candi- 
dates, independently of the wills of party bosses 
in state and nation, the aged Senator said: 

'The term 'bob-cat' is well chosen. It is 
a much better title than 'Mugwump.' which 
the late Charles A. Dana dug from the Eliot 
Ojibwa Bibh — meaning 'A big chief moping 
in his tent.' Scratching 'bob-cats' will be 
the salvation of the Republic! When United 
States Senators are chosen by direct vote, the 
'bob-cat's' power will be tenfold more potent 
than now. The Senate, too, often defeats 
the will of the majority in the popular branch 
of this government. The House proposes 
and the Senate disposes! An end of strictly 
party politics in this country is foreshadowed. 
It sounds like a foolish thing to say, but a 
new party ought to be born in the United 
States every eight or twelve years. We saw 
the 'Silver party' come into being in 1896, 



and endure for fully four years. I mean that 
its leader was strong enough to command a 
renomination. Bryanism did this country a 
power of good. It was conceived in folly and 
maintained in the face of popular disapproval; 
but it was 'tried out' until abandoned and 
shown to be hopeless. We have become a 
thinking people since 1896! What a splendid 
thing it would have been, for instance, had the 
slavery question been given the same crucial 
trial! Even the South would have opposed 
the introduction of slavery into all the North- 
ern States! Its leaders would have been the 
first to see that the activities of the North 
would have driven the slave-laborer much 
harder than he was driven in the South, and 
that, with the exceptions of cotton, rice and 
sugar, the North would have still controlled 
the agricultural output of the country. Had 
the question ever been presented: 'All slave 
or all free!' the South would have voted for 
the freedom of the slave. The purchase of 
the human property could have been com- 
pleted at a cost of $30,000,000; the Civil War, 
that resulted in an outlay of billions of dollars 
and 1.000,000 lives, would have been averted. 

" Bryanism was a national question. The 
whole country was asked to take it or leave 
it. Sections of the United States favored it, 
just as many of the states adhered to slavery. 
But. like slavery, it is a dead issue. Never 
will it come up again !" 

In the Roosevelt campaign of 1904. the 
"Bob-eat" voter scratched his way into 
national prominence when more than half a 
million of him, with Democratic proclivities. 
east his ballot for a Republican presidential 
candidate! 

"May his tribe increase!" 

A "Mugwump" was defined as "one op- 
posed to something of which he was in favor;" 
the "Bob-cat" knows why he dislikes a meas- 
ure or a candidate and antagonizes it or him 
tooth and nail. 




Index 



Acker, Charles L 

Ackerson, T. Benton 

Adams, Charles C 

Agnew, George B 

Allen, Frederick H 289 

Allen, John J 

Allen, William 

Amy, Alfred V 

Anderson, Charles W. 

Appleton, Francis R 

Armstrong, Collin 

Armstrong, James 

Armstrong, Lorenzo D 

Ashcroft, Walter E 

Ashforth, Albert B 127 

Arthur, Chester 2 

Astor. John Jacob , . . 133 

Atterbury, Charles L 

Atterbtjry, W. W 



PAG I 

. 2(14 
121'. 

. 339 
314 
290 
281 
318 
114 
395 
353 
166 
2i is 
312 
204 
128 
1 63 
134 
275 
loo 



B ache & Co., J. S 386 

Bachia, Richard A 151 

Baird, Andrew D . 392 

Baker, Fisher A 227 

Baldwin, Arthur J 280 

Barber, Donn 170 

Barlow, Peter F 2(il 

Barney, Marshall A 259 

Battle, George Gordon 239 240 

Baylies, Edmund L . ... 316 

Beach, George C HI 2 

Beach, Ralph H 144 

Beardsley, Samuel A . 275-276 

Beckett, Charles H. . 265 

Beecher, William C 267 

Belasco, David 344 

Bell, James D 257 

Bell, John C '-'4 

Belmont Hotel 366 

Be.mis, William E lol 

Benedict, Julian 4:i7 

Bennett, James Gordon 18-52 92 

Bennett, James L. .. . . . 228 

Bensel, John A 198 

Bensel, Walter, M.D 394 

Berger, Joseph 415 U6 

Biohen, John S 100 

Bird, Francis W 263 

Bischoff, Henry 311 

Black, William Harmon 2111 292 

Bloomingdale, Emanuel W. 149 

Bogart, John L88 

Boller, Alfred P I s '-' 

Bond, Walter H 258 

Boody. David A ; i N; J 

Borchardt. Samuel. Ill 

Bosworth, William W l s; i l s l 

Boynton, Edward B 113 

Br idbury, Harry B :; l I 

Brady, James B 148 

Br m\, .Marcus 352 

Breed, William C. . . 27 1 

Brj in. M \tthew P. .271 

Brice, Wilson B 223 

Brown, Gerald B.. I'-' 1 

Brown, Lawrence E :; l s 

Brown, Paul < '. 192 

Brown, William I. . 136 

Brownell, Andrew s .. l-j s 

Brownell, Silas B 279 

Bri >« sing, .1 II II. i, 1 12 

Bi.v w. Benjamin B l" 1 

Bri w i, William J 74-164 

Buchman, Albert. . '40 

Bullard, Emanuel G 293 

Burgess, Ed\\ \.rd i I 204 

I'., rlingame, Jr., A W 313 ::i I 

Burns. Walter F 391 



Bl RNSIDE, ROBERI C IS.". 

Burpee, W Atlee .103 

Bi rr, Jr., Charles H 106 

Bi rr, Willi \\i 1' 237 238 



i; 



Callahan, Patrick I •'. 

Cantor, .1 mod \ 

C arli n, Patrick J 

Carmody, Francis X 

( ' \HN EG1 B, \\m:l u 

Carreau, ( '•. RILLE . . . 
Carrere, John M 
Carter, Asa L. 
Carti , John J 

Cla pf, I'j.w VRD I . 

Clark, Ch irles < ' . 

( 'l. VRKE, I )UMONT oSl 

Clark e 1! Floyd 

CLEVEL \N'D, < iROVER 

Clinch, Edward S 

Cohalan, Daniel F 

COHALAN, John P.... 

Cohen, Stanley A 

Cole, Charles D. M 

Cole, Fremont. . . . 227 

Colem \s. < Ieorge s 

Coi. eh. Bird S 

Coleh & Co., W \ . 

Collins, Gilbert. 

Conant, Ern bs i I. 

Conant, Leon mid II 

Conover, Samuel S 

Conti, Ces ire. . . . . 

Conway, Eustace 

Conway, Thomas F 

Cook, Alfred A 
Corbett, Marshall J.... 

Corbin, Austin 

( 'iihnw ell, William C 

Cortei.yiiu, George Bruce. . 
Covington, George B 

( !0XE, .M LCGH \NE 

Cozier, William C. . 
Crain, Thom is C T. 
Cranford, Charles., 

Craven, Alfred 

Croker, Richard. 

Cromwell, William Nelson . 213 

Ci kor, Morris 

('iii er, Thom is I >eWit r . 



.Ms 

282 

Is) 

310 
130 
112 
176 
288 
191 
:;ss 
234 
382 
238 
r.l 
211 
245 
397 
167 
306 
228 
232 

168 
381 
170 
312 
393 
383 
388 
314 
238 
291 
208 
384 
380 
136 
275 
250 
351 
262 

is.'. 

189 
399 
215 
304 
94 



Dady, Mich u:i. J 

I I M.lil.ui;. MELVIN I 1 

Dale, Ch m.mehs 
Dana, Chas \ . . 

I 1 \ \ \. I ,'n HARD T. 

Davenport, Hum er. 
D \\ 1 1 s, Jr., .1 I LI an T. . 

I ) \\ IES, .1 ( 'l SKI M 1 

D wii>. Rich sku T 
Day. Joseph P 
Delafi eld, Lewis I . 
deLim \. Elias \ 
DeWitt, Georgi G 
I ink. .1 Henri 
Dili. iin. .Inns F 
Dimond, Thomas 
Ditmars, Edward W 
I Iin i:\in IEFER, A. J.... 

I ). nil.-. Will inn B. 

D'Oi N' ii. Albert 1 

I (OLSON, \\ 11.1.1 Ml II 

Donnelly, James I 

1 1 iiiii. Josi ni VV 

I iorr \n< i . Ch \hi i 
Dos Passos, John I! 
Doty, Alvah II . M.D 
1 1 las, James 



117 



129 

2 ' I 



186 
299 

384 
62 
200 
165 
308 
122 
340 

lis 
302 
179 
320 
154 
218 
is;, 
304 
256 
309 
183 

410 

241 
250 
352 
200 



445 



INDEX— Continued 



PAGE 

Dowling, Victor J 242 

Drake, Lauren J 207-208 

Dryden, John F 171 

Dudley, Plimmon 11 193 

Dunn, John P 297 

Durkee, Charles D 354 

Dutton, Ira J 235 

Dwight, Arthur »S 194 

Dyk.man, William N 265 

Earl, Edward 377-378 

Earle, J. Walter 353 

Earp, Wilbur E 283 

Eaton, Frederick H 335-336 

Eckehson, John C. R 415 

Ehrhart, E. Nelson 42'.) 

Elliman, Douglas L 428 

Elliman, Lawrence B 431 

Elliott, Mortimer F 218 

Ely, James R 315 

Evans, Dr. George 330 

Ewing, Jr., Thomas 280 

Excelsior Savings Bank 379 

Fairchild, Benjamin L 252 

Fairchild, Julian D 376-377 

Fanning, William J 249 

Farley, Terence 236 

Farquhar, Percival 337-338 

Fearons, Georoe H '-'17 

Ferris, Stark B 299 

First National Bank, Jersey City 392 

Fischer, J. Arthur 430 

Finke, Harrison Grey 347 

Flagler, John H 207 

Foelker, Otto G 296 

Ford, John 262 

Fordham, Herbert L 2S3-284 

Fornes, Charles V 394 

Fox, Dewitt 318 

Fox, D. Alvin 154 

Franke, Julius 181-182 

Frew, Walter E 374 

Friedman, Harold J 317 

Frohman, Charles 344 

Frohman, Daniel 343 

Fuller, Egbert C 169 

Fuller, Williamson W 235 

Gale, Noel 273 

Gallatin, Francis D 301 

Cans, Joseph 287 

Gardenhire, Samuel M 284 

Gardiner, A. Paul 398 

Garfield, James A 62 

Gavegan, Edward J 255 

Gavin, 2nd, Michael 258 

Gaynor, William J 205 

Geer, Walter 355 

Gibson, William J 267 

Gilbert, Charles P. H 179-180 

Gilleran, Thomas 288 

Gold, Louis 430 

Goldfogle, Henry M 253 

Golding, John N 419-420 

Goodrich, Ernest P 197 

Graham, George S 104 

Grant, General U. S 58 59 

Gray, James A 2S(i 

Greeley, Horace 11 

Greene, Jr., George S 197 

Greene, Headley M 289 

Greenough, Charles E 384-385 

Gridley, Willis T 221-222 

Griggs, John W 241 

Grout, Edward M 249 

Grove, Henry S 100 

Gruber, Abraham 244 

Grundy, George D 418 

Gubelman, Oscar L 389 



page 

Guggenheimer, Chas. S 244 

Gunn, James N 202 

Guy, Charles L 242 

Haan, R. M 367 

H aff, Robert W 428 

Haggin, Ben Ali 348 

Hallowell, Thomas J 390 

Halsey & Co., N. W 383 

Hanna, Marcus A 67 

Harahan, William J 335 

Hardenberg, Henry J 183 

Harder, Victor A 206 

Harris, Sidney 246 

Harrison, Benj 65 

Hartridge, Clifford W 272 

Harvey, George B. M 124 

Hastings, Thomas 176 

Hatch, Edward W 227 

Hatfield, Walter 104 

Hay, John 18 

Hays. Rutherford B 62 

Hearst, Wm. R 165 

Hebberd, Robert W 396 

Hecem an, Benjamin A 333 

Heine, M. Casewell 310 

Henderson, Henry C 274 

Henderson, Jr., William 436 

Hendrick, Peter A 245 

Henry, Nelson H 393-394 

Herbert, Victor 347 

Hess, Nathaniel J 428 

Hettrick, John T 287-288 

Hibbard, Robert H 261 

Hilton, J. Arthur 243-244 

Hipkins. Bayly 434 

Hirsh, William H 302 

Hitchings, Hector M 238 

Hobbs, Frederick G 413 

Hoes, William M 313 

Hoff, Olaf 187 

Holm, Charles F 287 

Holt, William T 230 

Hooker, Henry S 235 

Hopper, John J 183-184 

Hough, David L 192 

Houghton, Clarence S 294 

House, Frederick B 288 

Howell, J. Frank 386 

Howland, Henry E 256 

Hoyt, Colgate 392 

Hulbert, Henry C 375 

Hunt, James M 296 

Hunt, Joseph Howland 179-181 

Hunt, Richard Howland 179-180 

Hutchinson, Joseph B 98 

Hyde, Henry B 76 

Iselin, John H 304 

Jackson, Frank W 300 

Jacobson, Isaac W 282 

James, Thomas L 24 

Jewett, Guernsey R 310 

Johnson, Andrew 59-62 

Johnson, F. Coit 156 

Johnson, Henry B 300 

Johnson, Lucius E 99 

Jordan, Clark L 297-298 

Juhring, John C 146 

Kaufman, Louis G 378 

Keck, Frank 256 

Keene, James R 82 

Keener, William A 273 

Kidder, Cornelius G 273 

Kimball, Francis H 179-180 

King, David Bennett 276 

Klapp, Eugene 199 

Klein, Charles 346 



446 



INDEX— Continued 



PAGE 

Klem.mer, Joseph H lo. r > 

Kneeland, A. Delos 2!tl 292 

Kramer, George W 177-178 

Kuhn, John J . 272 

Kuster, Louis E 228 

Lambert, William A 427 

Lamont, Daniel S 64 

LaMonte, George M 166 

Lapoint, William W 319 

Larkin, Adrian H 271 

Laughlin, Frank C . . 242 

Lauterbach, Edward 226 

Leaycraft, J. Edgar HI 

Ledoux, Albert R I 'to 

Lehman, Irving 255 

Lester, George B 281 

Leubuscheh, Frederic C 269 

Levy, Aaron J 308 

Lewis, Liston L 272 

Libhy, William H 397 

Little, Joseph J 141 

Littleton, Martin W 233 

Li'mmis, Benjamin R 433 

Lydeckf.r, Charles E 270 

McAdoo, William G 355 

Mi Alpin, Edwin A 147 

McAneny, George 396 397 

McAuley, "Jerry" 20 

McClelland, Charles P 266 

McClelland, Gen. Geo. B 81 

Mi ( Jonnell, Samuel P Jill 

McCooey, John H . . . 3.51 

McCook, Anson G 267-268 

McCord, William H 184 

McCornick Brothers 386 

McCrea, James 98 

Mi I i kdy, Richard A 350 

Mi ( i tcheon. Charles W 143 

McGovern, James P 318 

McIntyre, John F 302 

McKeen, James 281 

McKinley, Wm Gfi 67 

McKnight, H. Stewart 425 426 

McLaughlin, D. Maujer 412 

Maddux. Samuel T 262 

M u.iine, Dudley Field 237 

Manhei.l. Kaufman 355 

Mann. William D 169 

Marks. William D 199 

Martin Cafe 369 

Martin, Myra B 390 

Martin. Samuel H 411 

Marx, Samuel 425 

Mason. VICTOR L 354 

M \~thk. Seabtjry C 294 

Mathewson, Charles F 265 

Maynard, George W 194 

Meant, Edward P 221 

Medbury, Fitch H 424 

Meier, Edward D 195 

Meirs, Richard W 105 

Merchants Exchange National Bank. 392 

Metz, Herman A 169 

Meyer, Willy, M.D 329 330 

Miles. George E '-■' 

Miller, Frank E.. M.D 328 

Miller, Hugh Gordon 264 

Miller, Jacob W 206 

Miller. William W 263 26 I 

Minrath, Ferdinand R 281 282 

Mitchell, William 279 

Mix. Charles W ' 3 I 

Moffitt, William H 420 

Moi.ineaux. Edward L 349 

Moli.enhauek. Frederick D 153 

Moore, Jr.. Charles A 149 

Moore. Charles F -" ,v 



PAGE 

Moore, Robert M 306 

Morg w Edward M 271 

Morg in, i Ieorge W 305 

Morg i\, Rollin M 310 

Morse. Waldo G 297 

Muss. Frank 249 250 

Moi i.M in, I...! i~ C 369 370 

Money. Edward P 106 

Miller A Son, All 119 

Mi i '.I ken. Michael J 3,13 

MUNSON, Walter [i 139 L40 

Mi i:inv. Cn \ki is F 308 

M ' i in v. Franklin I To 

Miii u. Hank 390 

Nathan, Gratz 250 

\ I M 1 I II, .In UN 340 

NeUB] i.'i.i i: I I u III M 

\ I u BORG & COMP IVY 

N i u \i mck. Charles 125 

Newton, Mahlon W 103 

X. Y. Central Realty Co... 432 

New Yukk Tribune loi 

New York World 123 i 19 

NlCOLL, I Ml. SNi l.\ 260 

Niese, Henry E 152 

Nix, John W 

Nordofp, Charles lo l :; 

Norton, Algernon S 276 -'77 

\n- 1 rand, Peter E 193 

Noyes, Charles I 123 

Oakes, Thomas F 336 

i ('Connor, Mm ii mi. I' 243 

O'Gorman. James A 245 

Opdyki, George II 103 

O'Reilly, Thomas J 120 

( (SBORN1 . .1 mi - W 217 248 

I'm. i , S Davis 93 

Page, William II 217 

Parker, Alton B 227 

Parker. Ashton 270 

Parker, Robert M 152 

Parmly, Randolph 291 

Patrick. Charles H 131 

Paulding, Charles C 284 

1'aii.in, Edward D 122 

Penrose. Boies 95 

Perkins. George F 170 

Peters, Curtis A 237 

Peters, Ralph 

Phillips. i>\\ii> 1 123 121 

Plai e, [ra A 335 

Platt. Thomas C 13.'. 

Por i er, Gen. Hor ice 

Pope, James E 172 

Porter, Louis II 300 

Post, Gi orge A 332 

Post, James II ••"'' 

Putts, Joseph 253 25 l 

Pratt. Sereno S 12 1 

IV, oi. Charli - I 10" 

Pugsi ik Cornelius A 393 

Pulitzer. Joseph 128 

Pye. David W 201 202 

Queens Land A- Title Co 12 1 

1.0 inn. W Johnson 369 

Rabinowitz, Aaron '30 

Kae. William I' " s 

i; vn-iim, Rastus S 276 

Ransom, Wili iam 1 

Rapp, John W.. 203 

RASCOT m:, -I nn B 167 

Rasquin, Henry S 

H mtiiiiin e, Albert 312 

Raven, ^.nton \ :( ~-"' 376 



417 






INDEX— Continued 



PAGE 

Raymond, Rossiter W 193 

R i i Sami el. . . . 101 

l; i \u. < rEORGE 1! 4_':-S 

Redding, William A 312 

Redmond & Company 387 

Reeves .V- Co., W. C 418 110 

Reid, Whitelaw 12-70 

Rennard, .1 Cl IFFORD 396 

Reynolds, Thomas L 413 

Riker, Jr., Samuel 260 

Roberts, .1 imes A 231 

Roi kefeller, John I). 20 

Id ii. i. ins. Jordan J . 23.5 

Roosevelt, Theodore 67 

Ross, J. Stewart 285 

Roth, Herman L 307 

Rothermal, Jr., P. F 94 

H n. a nii. Irving 422 

Rumsey, David 296 

Runyon, Walter C 147 

Russell, Ciiahi.es M 319-320 

Russell, Um. Hepburn 298 

Ryan, Joseph T 293-294 

Ryan, Thomas F 401-403 

Sackett, Henry W 233 

Sackett, John T 315 

Salmon, Arthur C 255 

Schaefer, Jr., John V 182 

Schaefer, Rudolph J 155 

Schenck, Reginald H 305 

Scheuer, Ralph 354 

Schieren, Charles A 138 

Schloss, Henry W 146 

Schneider, William F 397 

Schwab, Charles M 132 

Seaman, Louis L., M.D 327 

Shand, Alexander C 98 

Sheehan, John C 399 

Sheer an, William F 227 

Shongood, Charles 432 

Slater, Samuel S 292 

Sloane, James R 294 

Smith, Frank E 431 

Smith, George Carson 334 

Snitkin, Leonard A 317 

Snow, Elbridge G 386 

Somers, Arthur S 356 

Somerville, Henderson M 266 

Spooner, Allen N 197-198 

Spooner, John C 216 

St. Regis Hotel 367 

Stallo, Edmund K 316 

Stanchfield, John B 319 

Stanton, Robert B 201 

Stapleton, Luke D 317 

Steinmetz, John A 432 

Sterling, George L 236 

Stern, Nathan D 295 

Steuer, Max I) 240 

Stevens, Dr. George T 330 

Stilson, Arthur T 144 

Stoddard, Charles H 306 

Stone, Melville E 404 

Stott, Henry G 188 

Stover, Charles B 263 

Strong, Mason R 190 

Stroock, Sol M 277-278 

Struse, ( >tto F 286 

Sullivan, William M 268 

Sulzeh, William "_'."> 1 252 

Sumner, Edward A 291 -292 

Sumner, John Saxton 293 



Tack, Theodore E 353-354 

Taft, William 11 73 

Taggeht, Rt'sh 231 

Tappan, .1 B. Culls 271 -272 

T \ vi nit. i 'ii miles I . . . 314 



PAGE 

Temple, Edward B 102 

Terry. Charles ThaDDEUS 305 

Tesl \. Nikola 195 

Thayer, Harry B 156 

Thompson, Robert M 380 

Thorne, Jr.. Samuel .... 285 

Thornton. David 315 

Tierney, Edward M . 368 

Tifft, Henry N 247 

TlLDEN. Sam'l J 21 

Todd, William R 208 

Tomlins, Jr., William M 380 

Tih'akyan. Hayozoun H... 205 

Townb, Edgar Owings 301 

Towne, Henry R .198 

Towns, Mikabeau L 229-230 

Tracy, Benjamin F 279 

Truax, Arthur D 277-278 

Tschirky, < Iscar 368 

Tuxill, Charles E 427 

Tweed, Wm. M 17 

Tyler, George C 345 

Union Dime Savings Bank 379 

U. S Brewers Association 371 

LTntermyer, Samuel 269 

Vail, Theodore N 76 

Vanderbilt, Edward W 339 

Van Wvck. Augustus 225-226 

Van Wv.k, Robt. A 69 

Vause, W. Bernard 307 

Veit, Richard C 207 

Vermuele, Cornelius C 187 

Vorhaus, Louis J 278 

Vreeland, Herbert H 138 

Wagener, August P 254 

Wagner, Robert F 440 

Walker, Alexander 375 

Walker, William B 150 

Walmsley, Hardie B 253 

Ward, Artemas 316 

Ward, John M 289 

Ware, William R 429 

Warfield, Lewis 200 

Wasson, T. Ward 418 

Watson, Archibald R 236 

Watson, Edwin A 277 

Weeks, Bartow S 253-254 

Weill, Henry M 433 

Welch, Edward J 311 

Wellman. Francis L 248 

Wemple, William L 296 

Wetmore, J. Douglas 29, 

Whalen, John 25 

White, Frank 286 

White, Harry 438 

Whiting, William H 411 

Whitney, Willi lhC 64 

Wilbur, John A 435 

Willcox, William R 232 

Wilson, Floyd B 300 

Windmuller, Liiuis 16S 

Winsluw. Wm. Beverly 274 

Witte, Herman J 302 

Wood, F. R 416 

W'oodford, Stewart L 220 

Wiiiii.vkrtiin, William H 336 

Yerkf.s. 1 1 m:\ian 94 

Zahm, George D 311 

Zehnder, Charles H 201 

Ziegler, Irving E 290 

Zobel, Robert P 416 

Zucca, Antonio 398 



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